Becoming the person who does the thing

Summary

It can be disorienting when our beliefs shift. The world we helped create no longer exists, and our role in it transforms too. It can be unsettling, naturally. But that's kind of the point. Looking back at times when I held certain beliefs—about how the world works, and what my role in this story is—it can feel less like a mod was installed and more like an entirely new operating system was swapped in. Up until my late twenties, I could count the number of times I had been to the gym on one hand. And worse, as a nerd, I was quietly proud of it. Why waste hours a week on something that hardly mattered? I have better things to do. I pitied the jocks who slaved away in the gym chasing vanity. What for? I don't need that. Who cares? Like all childish thinking, it contained some truth. Physical fitness is less important than spiritual, emotional, and mental fitness; but it’s still important. Even Paul, one of history’s most influential figures, with a worldview shaped by the utter centrality of spiritual health, said as much. Your beliefs—and therefore approach to what a healthy life looks like—are foundational. It might sound obvious, but what you believe a "life well lived" looks like has a pretty transformative impact on both what life you end up building and how well lived it looks. So if we’re a product of our beliefs and our most formative preconceptions are imposed by others, then where’s the hope? We build, layer upon layer, and the layers laid first—now deeply buried within—are the ones we had the least say in. We didn't pick them, but they shape everything we are and do. Bad luck, I guess. Thankfully, we are dynamic beings. Old beliefs can peel off, and new ones take their place. Later layers can somehow seep deeper. Some recent beliefs can even become cornerstones. For me, something shifted in my late twenties. Growing up I guess you could call it. I don’t remember the exact straw that broke the camel’s back, but a desire for change grew. I started working out...