Hardly Svelte, Wholly Determined

Lance Martinus-Lewis

I am going to immerse myself in unfathomable serenity and instill energy, regain empowerment, and accelerate momentum—not tomorrow or the day after, but on a pinpointed day.

I would imagine a lot of people can relate to this.

Communicating with people is extraordinarily hard. We don’t really speak to listen. In truth, influencing others was never difficult for me.

In design (Adobe Photoshop), something I started 25 years ago, I was able to give advice born from repeatedly trying. In photography, people asked for advice inspired by the framed work that I was very fortunate to have adorning their walls.

In fitness, when people told me they could never do a marathon, I had been there.

My running advice was born from the challenges I encountered by doing it after hobbling around on crutches for three years. Moreover, it’s my perspective. I believe there is zero difference, analytically, in the first ten steps and the last of 26.2 miles. If you know of any, feel free to let me know. It’s the simplicity of this rhetoric that got me—a hardly svelte man—around 17 half-marathons and 3 marathons.

weights and fitness

I haven’t been to a Dr’s in 13 years. Perhaps that allocates me to “It might be working” Philospophy. If you asked my advice on weights and fitness, it would be given from the perspective of stepping into a gym at 23 and varying degrees of “lax” and “on-and-offs,” but mostly, to be very fair, pure tenacity and discipline.

I know exactly where I am in the universe, and the world has taught me repeatedly—and ingrained in me—the pointlessness of assuming any kind of reasurence of safety or from my fellow citizens bar one fabulous soul partner. My safety, my well-being, my fitness, and my psychological well-being aren’t enhanced by “this” decade’s emphasis on mental healths sudden importance or an awareness of how it presents. I solidly believe that just because you identify what impediment you suffer from it doesn’t mean that the solutions are more accessible. In fact, it means more people readily roadblock self-progress by utilizing what the medical fraternity christened it (if indeed it was confirmed by a Dr) as reasoning not to develop the skills to overcome problems incurred.

Moreover, just because so many people can now identify the names of their fluctuating mental health, doesn’t mean they all try to overcome it. I am responsible for mine. Now, I can wholeheartedly acknowledge that, and given I have done so comfortably, I will set about initiating the changes required. It will start with the staple that first introduced me to confidence when I was 23: exercise.