Obsess Much?

Around the time I started my fitness journey, I started getting flack from various people.  Looking back on it today, I realized how unhappy these particular people were and I now have sympathy for them.  Some have actually changed since then and some are still in the same predicament.  It used to bother me pretty badly but it didn’t last for long.  I always go back to one’s environment/surroundings.  At the time, I was associated with people that didn’t care about health and fitness.  When I started to change, I was kind of an outcast.  I would get made fun of in a way and all sorts of comments flew out of folk’s mouths.  If a group of people threw in some cash for lunch, I would order something healthy.  Or, if there was a potluck type of gathering, people would say stuff like, “I can make a cake but Wallace won’t eat it.  Maybe I can throw some spinach in it to make it healthy”.  It only got worse before it got better.  Often times people would tell me that I was obsessed with eating healthy or obsessed with working out because I went six days a week.  It even got to the point where people would try and sabotage my food by lying about what was in it (if someone else made it for a group).  They would watch me eat it and then kind of snicker.  Pretty bad huh?  Me giving up alcohol was another bad one.  I think the thing that got me the most was people telling me I was obsessed.  I would always wonder what the hell was wrong with people.

Believe it or not, a t-shirt answered my question.  I was talking with my brother and law about the gym and how everyone seemed to have a problem with what I was doing.  He totally understood being somewhat in my same position.  While he was in the gym one day, he said he saw the best t-shirt.  It said, “lazy people see dedication as an obsession”.  I started thinking about everyone who were hating on me and figured that most of them were in fact lazy (lets say “inactive” to be nice) or just jealous.  At that point, I began to feel better about those folks and was able to respond a lot better to those situations.  Funny thing is, some of those folks have made a change and are doing the same thing they said I was “obsessing” about.  I don’t hold any grudges what so ever and are more than willing to help them along their journey.  Why would I do the same thing they did to me when it hurt me so much?  Anybody that is willing to make a change for the better needs nothing but support and instead of egos and jealousy getting in their way, they should simply be happy for that person and be there in time of need.  Hell, people that are even digressing need support.  Fitness and health has even made me tougher mentally and emotionally and being tougher in those two areas makes me feel like I can do anything.