The Gym, the Journal, the Mind
Reading Time: 6 minutes
Yurui’s Summary
The gym has taught me mental strength, how to find mental clarity, how happiness comes from self-competition, and how wholesome humans can be when working with each other.
Journaling is about finding mental clarity through getting thoughts in writing. My journal is a brain dump of everything that goes on in my life.
Learning compounds. The more clear you are with your life, the more driven, motivated and ambitious you become. Journaling is something that no one else will know about if you don’t tell them; a private abode for your deepest thoughts and meditations.
I credit both the gym and my journal with teaching me how to find mental clarity. You find your own conviction when you journal; in life, if you don’t choose a path, one will be chosen for you. You will begin to become more intrinsically motivated. I can’t stress enough how important that being alone and in your thoughts is the first step towards being mindful of how you’re living life, and will ultimately help you find clarity.
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The gym and my journal have been the greatest influences in helping me reach a state of mental clarity.
Why should we pursue clarity? Clarity is being conscious of what we want to become, the journey we’ve been on, what we value and cherish, and relating that to what we do on a day-to-day level. Having this clarity allows you to define your goals and be more intentional with how you live. Through introspection, you learn what motivates you and what makes you get out of bed every morning.
Self-awareness is the first step toward meaningful change. Once we are aware of our purpose, we can hone in even further and work at maximum efficiency due to our concentrated motivation.
Choose a path or a path will be chosen for you. We can control nothing in life, except for our actions and mindset. Everything else is up to the world.
I’ve been meaning to write this article for a long time now, but I didn’t know if I could do it justice. I probably won’t be able to do it justice today. But if I keep continuing to delay, I’ll never get it done. Today I’ll share with you my personal experiences of going to the gym for around a year and a half, and journaling for nearly three years now.
I’m going to be pulling extracts from my journal to present some of these learnings; please excuse any potential clashes in tone/writing style; I dictate a lot of rambling into my journal.
The Gym
The gym has taught me mental strength and discipline. However strong you may be physically, you could definitely be mentally weak; what matters is your spirit. It’s about not giving up. Consistency is one of the most important parts of working out; it’s easy to go to the gym once, or for a week. But going consistently for months and years is the hard part; there will be many, many days you don’t want to go. Those are the most important days; realising that you don’t want to go, but still going anyways. That is how you conquer the mind.
I was on the rowing machine today (06/02/2023), going for a distance of 2000m because I wanted to see how far I could push myself. I was absolutely destroyed after my workout, so I hopped on, and at around 628m left, I just could not keep going. My glutes were burning, so I got off I walked around for 10 seconds, and then had to lie down for 20 more seconds before getting back on that machine. Those 628m were some of the hardest meters I’ve ever done, so when I got off that machine I was so fucking proud. It felt so good to get off that machine, because I went to my full limits, and I could’ve given up. But I didn’t and that is what the gym is all about. I think it’s reaching your limits, doing something you don’t want to do doing something, but you still doing it anyways. That, I think, is the most important part of going to the gym; the feeling you have afterwards is to die for. You have to experience it to understand.
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The gym has taught me how to find mental clarity.
On 12/02/2023, I had my first-year anniversary of going to the gym. I decided to start making some notes on the philosophy I’ve been reading – and one day convert it into my blog.
In between sets, without technology, just acknowledging the chatter in my mind, I become clear with many thoughts; what my journey has been, how my day was, my principles (which shape my goals), and what type of person I want to become in the future, and how to get there. Inspiration is perishable; I try my best to write down everything that I think about, whether that be on paper, on my watch, or on iOS notes.
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The gym has taught me that happiness comes from comparison and competition with yourself. The gym makes me realise how great it is to have the opportunity to become the best version of myself, and be happy that I’m taking that opportunity.
On 04/04/2023, I realised that the feeling on the way home back from the gym late is night is insane. You just spent hours of your time working out and improving yourself while many millions of others are indulging in hedonism. But you ‘defeated your demons’ and you made the effort to walk to the gym and work out. Now you walk back like a champion.
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The gym community is just so wholesome. Everyone in there is just trying to become the best version of themselves. The first time I went to the gym, I asked a guy for help on my form, and he was more than happy to give me some pointers. I think that every interaction I have with someone at the gym just makes both of us so happy.
I think there’s a reason why I've been able to keep going to the gym over the past year and a half; whatever happens in my day, at the end of it all, at least I can go to the gym at night. If all else fails and I lose everything, at least I have myself. The gym has been there in my worst times; ‘my darkest hour’. It’s made me who I am. It’s given me the chance to become not only more physically, but also mentally confident. Whenever I had these terrible intrusive thoughts and self-doubt, the gym made me realise what I was made of. It gave me clarity and purpose.
The Journal
On 17/06/2023, I journaled about journaling.
I think I’ve realised how powerful journaling truly is now. Journaling has been about organising the chatter in my brain and forcing myself to be clear with my thoughts by writing them down. I synthesise all the ramblings, and in doing so, come to terms with them. I become more mindful with what I think about and what I do, and how I can improve how I spend my days in the future. Even the most simple, basic, day-to-day stuff can reveal so much about my history when I look back on the past, for the small moments are truly the building blocks of life.
My journal is a brain dump of everything that goes on in my life; I write down every thought that comes to mind. I do life-in-review sessions, where I list down all my commitments and evaluate how I’m spending my time every single day. I write down fleeting thoughts and musings about life. I capture memories within words. I look back and I reflect on how much I’ve changed over the years. I learn that I’m often too pessimistic and need to focus on finding happiness in the smaller things.
Learning compounds. The more clear you are with your life, the more driven, motivated, and ambitious you become. You realise that you’re not happy with who you are now, and you have this inner drive to improve yourself and become a better person. You also bring clarity to your mind; writing forces you to organise your thoughts and synthesise them into something digestible. You learn more about yourself; your background, your values, your passions, and who you want to become in the future.
Once you get started, it’s hard to stop. I journal online because my handwriting sucks, I have a much faster typing speed, I can back up my journal, and it’s easier to read and reflect. But sometimes I wish I started my journal on pen-and-paper, for it is only in the absence of distractions like technology, in our modern era, in which we can be truly clear and honest with ourselves.
Journaling is something that no one else will know about if you don’t tell them. Your journal is your private abode for your deepest thoughts and meditations. I’ve never let another person read my journal in its entirety, and the virtue of this is that you have the ultimate freedom with what you write. Whenever life becomes too much, I always have my word document to refer back to and just vomit down all my thoughts as I find clarity in writing.
On mindfulness and being alone (from Jumanji 2): “This is what you should be thinking about, who you are in this moment in time and who you want to be. You get one life, you decide how you're gonna spend it. Fortunately, there is no better place for self-reflection than detention.”
The Mind
I credit both the gym and my journal with teaching me how to find mental clarity. Through introspection, I’ve defined a purpose, found motivation, and really prioritised my rational, system two thinking over the more intuitive, impulsive system one thinking. I think that through the gym and the journal, become more conscious with how you live your life; in doing so, being more grateful for your life, but also encouraging constant self improvement.
You find your own conviction when you journal; in life, if you don’t choose a path, one will be chosen for you. You will begin to become more intrinsically motivated. I can’t stress enough how important that being alone and in your thoughts is the first step towards being mindful of how you’re living life, and will ultimately help you find clarity.
If you’re thinking of starting to go to the gym or have your own journal, shoot me a message. I’ve gotten quite a few mates to start these habits and all of them tell me how beneficial it’s been for their lives.
Yurui
