Happiness
Fitness for quality of mind
(read time approx 5 mins)
happiness
Happiness is one of the three main purposes of a fitness regime. Happiness is a concept that everyone has heard of and yet it is still so difficult to define, academically and personally. I am not an expert and I do not know the answer to happiness but I do know my own definition which is a slight variation of Sonja Lyubomirsky definition of happiness:
Happiness is an inner quality, a sense of positive well-being with a state of mind that one and one’s life is good, meaningful and worthwhile.
This means that happiness does not happen by chance, it is a consequence of both understanding as well as investing in our self, our values and our life. We are the narrator of our life, and responsible for knowing our own worth, our values/beliefs, our purpose, our life’s meaning as well as working towards aligning our actions with those definitions. Happiness requires awareness of our internal compass so that we can purposefully steer our life and keep it on course.
It is usually assumed that fit individuals are happier than unfit individuals, but this is not always the case. Fitness can give runners highs, release happy endorphins and/or give enjoyable muscular pumps, but I believe there is a big difference between what is pleasurable and what makes someone happy. Pleasurable experiences are transient, where as when life is good, meaningful and worthwhile, happiness runs constantly in the background, positively influencing everything we do. Happiness does not mean living a perfect life without any downs or hardships, it just helps us to persevere through them.
Just like health, happiness is a never ending process, not an end result. People change, life evolves and therefore so will our definition of happiness. It is not easy defining our own happiness and what makes for a purposeful life, but without an internal compass or direction, we cannot align our course of actions with our definition of success. It is always worthwhile to review the big questions in life, to see whether our actions are contributing to a life we determine as good, meaningful and worthwhile.
Happiness is understanding our internal values and working to align our actions with those values leading to a good, meaningful and worthwhile life.
happy fitness
The key to a happy fitness life is fully understanding the value and purpose we place upon fitness, where fitness falls in our top trumps of life and a clear as well as honest idea of what actions we can commit to. Happiness based fitness goals are internal perceptions about what fitness results are valuable, meaningful and worthwhile to our self. It is an individual value and not one which should be pushed onto other people or judge if someone else does not find it as valuable or meaningful as we do.
Physical aesthetics seems to be the most dominant and valuable fitness adaptation within the fitness industry. If you are outside of the fitness industry, stop comparing yourself to those within it. Some fitness professionals can define them self and their whole life by the way they look or what their body can do. This is why it is so important not to compare fitness results with others, especially to fitness professionals, because it may well currently be their highest and only value in life, so of course they will be very driven to work hard ticking their fitness and recovery boxes every, single, day.
Whatever fitness adaptations we value, it is very important to understand their purpose as well as what it will truly cost us to make them a reality. The more physical change we desire, the more training stress will be needed and therefore more recovery too. This means more time, effort and life management to consistently tick the necessary training and lifestyle boxes that cause the desired changes we seek.
It is very important to align our expectations with reality because if our reality does not match up with our expectations, it can be demotivating and negatively impact our happiness. Be wary of mainstream fitness and social media advice. If they are trying to sell you a quick fix, it’s probably not going to help in the long-term. Whereas if only looking for a quick short-term blast, it can indeed tick that box. Just know the difference.
It is important to understand where, or even if, fitness falls onto our happiness radar. If specific fitness adaptations outside of health aren’t valuable or add meaning to our life then a simple health based fitness regime is enough.
Successful manipulation of training and lifestyle to compliment overall quality of mind by working towards meaningful and worthwhile fitness results.
Therefore, fitness goals are to be achieved because we truly deem them valuable, worthwhile and meaningful, not just because society says we should. Happy fitness success is defined through the lens of quality of mind and whether a fitness regime is actually improving our perceptions about our self and our life vs just improving fitness.
A happy fitness regime will therefore aim to keep us on a path towards purposeful and worthwhile improvements in mobility, strength, endurance, balance and body composition. The process of achieving these training adaptations must also align with our other values in life in order to positively contribute towards our overall quality of mind.
Some happiness based fitness goals :
Lifting a desired weight to feel strong
Decrease anxiety about fitness results
Increased muscle mass to fit a personal definition of a worthwhile physique
Decreased fat stores to fit a personal definition of a worthwhile physique
Be fit enough to better manage daily energy demands
Be fit enough to eat all the food whilst still maintaining health
Maintain ability to run because you “identify as a runner”
Fitness training is not required for happiness. Everyone has their own individual values and it is important not to judge others by their fitness values, or lack thereof. I work with clients to understand their values in life and where fitness falls into those values to best give a purposeful but realistic fitness process for their individual circumstances.