gym

Life Wisdom And Advice! Let Them Laugh At You Now So You Can Laugh At Them Later!

/ Lori Lawe / Leave a comment

He was still in his pajamas (I’m not even lying).1

He hadn’t yet combed his hair. He was sucking back coffee in the car on the way there. He didn’t have his water bottle. He had forgotten it. But he didn’t even realize that yet.

He was still waking up.

I, on the other hand, was a whole different story.

I drank no coffee, but pre-hydrated with lemon water, and I did everything else right (as usual). My pre-stretching routine began precisely fifteen minutes before we arrived. The checklist of items to be completed the night before was all checked off with my tidy little tick marks. My kale and mango smoothie was waiting for me in the fridge for a quick after-exercise snack. My day’s clothes were laid out and waiting, so I could make a fast transition from caterpillar to butterfly, as my husband said.

(Wait – what DOES that mean?! Caterpillar?! Now I’ll have to be mad at him to establish the power balance in the correct ratio!)

But we’re not talking about that.

We’re talking about people laughing at you. And by laughing at you, I literally mean “you” or “my friend” and definitely not “me”. Wanted to be very clear about that.

And now: the person to laugh at. My friend – we’ll call him Jim.2

He forgot his rain jacket, and we had to park away from the gym. So it was pretty rough that five minutes ago, he was asleep, and then he’s standing outside in the rain in his pajamas, waiting for the gym to open, and trying to slug back enough coffee not to accidentally murder those standing around us.

However, in six months, when he can do the fireman carry, which scientists have proven is directly correlated to overall well-being, and they can’t then who’s laughing now?

Or when he’s in a rocking chair, but he had two more years of being able to move a suitcase and put it in the overhead bin on a plane, and to stay in his own home longer (Yes, the goal as we age is to delay old folks’ homes); then who’s laughing now?

When we’re sitting next to each other in rocking chairs, but we’ve got one more year living at home because we worked out at the gym every morning for ten years, who’s laughing now?

Somehow, I’m already anticipating laughing at little (older) men and ladies in rocking chairs. How did I end up there? Well, let’s not think too much about the ethics of all of this or your maturity level to take this approach.

The point is, LET THEM LAUGH!

GO AHEAD! Show up at the gym in your pajamas with unkempt hair and having forgotten your water bottle! Let them laugh!

But when the rocking chairs come out, baby, HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

My husband and I will laugh at you.

Guaranteed.

(Unless you, too, are willing to be laughed at with us now!)

Come on! Join a gym! Let them laugh at you!

And while you’re at it, there are other ways to be laughed at with similar benefits in later years:

Ask the hard questions you have about God.

Even though you assume NO ONE EXCEPT YOU has ever thought deeply about these issues, such as:

  • How can there just be only ONE true religion?
  • How could a good God allow suffering?
  • How can a loving God send people to hell?

You’ll realize that multiple groups of people have completed their PhDs on every one of your questions3, and there is probably a bit more to think about with each of these topics than you may have realized at first glance, which will make you feel stupid.

But remember what we learned!

Feel stupid now so you won’t feel QUITE as stupid later!

Be willing to look like an idiot now so you won’t look so stupid when you stand before God naked and without cultural gold stars after you die!

God is SO pleased that you are TRYING.

He’s holding out his arms and waiting for you.

(And He won’t even laugh at your mistakes, like I will!4)

Photo Credit – This photo is from Unsplash, but I couldn’t find the exact link at the moment. (I AM very organized of course! Read the FIRST BIT of this article to prove that!)

Thank you for liking me! I like you too! Let’s journey together!

1 To his credit, his pajamas looked a bit like sweatpants, but that ruins the point of this article if I point out EVERY detail like that! Also, he had his gym shorts on under his pajamas, but I didn’t notice that at first, so that doesn’t count.

2 (Because my husband was starting to go to the gym that day, so that’s why I called my husband “Jim”.)

3 For answers to 99.01% of modern people’s questions about God, try Tim Keller’s Reason for God. Every question listed here is discussed with unusual frankness and a disproportionate amount of depth of insight in this book, for example.

4 Don’t take it personally. Life is more fun when we laugh at ourselves and others. (Yes, at you, too). You’re welcome! Good luck!

How To BE Physically Stronger Than You Actually ARE!

/ Lori Lawe / Leave a comment
man flexing muscles

So other times, I briefly referenced when I went to another country and how I accidentally (I didn’t mean to!) humiliated some people in a poverty-stricken town by winning some arm wrestling matches against the regional men because I was stronger than I appeared.1

I should explain, and give MY point of view so you can empathize with me.

Or maybe I should ask God for forgiveness for being a cultural horror, but it’s easier to convince you to feel sorry for me so that I can feel justified. Let’s go with the latter option today because I don’t have much time, and getting to a place of feeling bad about stuff I did wrong takes some time and effort.

First of all, we need some context.

It all started many years earlier when I also won (Do you notice a theme here – of me being a WINNER?) a push-up contest against someone much stronger and fitter than me, my older brother.

The following is what happened:

My brother was the kind of guy who ate chips and hot dogs at every meal and was usually found on the couch, vegging out and watching TV. Then he moved out, and the next time I saw him -Wow! – He got fit!

man in blue tank top and black shorts holding black dumbbell

The problem was that my self-esteem couldn’t easily handle this transition.

I have ALWAYS been the SUPER FIT one in the family (Proof HERE). “I MUST still be fitter than my couch potato brother!” I assumed.

“Yeah, you’re a little bit more fit than you were before you moved out,” I humbly admitted to my older brother. “But OF COURSE I’m STILL a LOT fitter than YOU!” My reality began to keel off-center when he challenged me to a push-up contest.

“HA!” I said with fake confidence, “OF COURSE!”

We settled on a tasty treat for a prize the OTHER sibling would pay for.

He bought me the prize because I WON (!) the push-up contest.

I want to end this Newsletter here, but my Editor (meanie) says I HAVE to finish this story for “Context” – whatever that means. So the next day, my brother shoveled sand and helped with other demanding physical labor around the house. (I couldn’t get out of bed for three days. My editor says I HAVE to put that part in there. But I don’t see how that statement is even relevant to the story!)

Anyway, how do we BECOME physically stronger than we ACTUALLY ARE? That’s easy! We fake it!

To soar through life, like I do, look down your nose at other people, and assume that you MUST BE better than them!

Then you’ll become a WINNER like me!

We may have to pay a bit in the next few days because we cannot get out of bed, but THINK OF THE GLORY that you will overshadow your brother and other rivals with!

You’re welcome!

Good luck!

Wait – The Point of this Newsletter doesn’t sit PERFECTLY with me today. Those who are more spiritually mature than I (and there AREN’T many of those!) mention something about sitting down and finding our TRUE identity as a child of God so that we are not hurting ourselves emotionally, physically or spiritually by trying to appear superior to who we are.

I keep forgetting stuff like that.

And once we really GET that stuff, then it’s okay EVEN to admit to being a loser! And the good news is that, thankfully, being a loser does not define us, either!

All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish! We don’t play the major role. If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing! . . .He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do . . .

The Message

And once we figure that stuff out, then we can tell the truth, EVEN about ourselves, and EVEN on the internet!

You’re welcome!

Good luck!

Photo Credit – I Feel This Strong Too! by Jakob Owens on Unsplash and Lorenzo Hamers on Unsplash

Thank you for liking me! I like you too! Let’s journey together!

1I can’t do everything right, ok?!

To Become Strong At The Gym, Look Down On These 3 Types Of People!

/ Lori Lawe / Leave a comment
topless man holding black and white ceramic mug

Most people fail at the gym because they look down on the wrong people at the wrong time.

The proper way to be successful at the gym is to choose WHO EXACTLY to look down on, and WHEN. Let me explain. A new guy in our gym class worked out using too much weight and bad form.

I saw him nursing a sore bicep immediately following this exercise.

The reason why so many people pump too much weight at the beginning before they have strength or skill in lifting is because, of course, they don’t want others to look down on them.

But here’s the little twist of fate that makes all that sweat at the gym worthwhile after a few months:

If you can suffer through the humility of having others at the gym looking down on you for just a short season then . . .

You can be the one looking down on others VERY soon because you will have a strong physique, and someone new will show up at the gym, so you can (therefore, of course!) look down on the latest people in just a few months!

So the trick then, as mentioned in my opening sentence, is to:

CHOOSE CAREFULLY WHO EXACTLY YOU WANT TO LOOK DOWN ON AND WHEN.

However, MAYBE you’re one of those morally superior people who NEVER looks down on others or tells others that you think you are morally superior! Well GOOD for you! But since I’ve never met anyone like that, let’s keep discussing these points for the rest of us, “not-so-amazing ones”.

  1. The first type of people you CAN make fun of are those who think they are SO amazing.1 See the preceding paragraph. That is a given in any circumstance and irrelevant to the topic of the gym, but is worth reminding each other of, anyway. You’re welcome! Who else can you feel superior to?
  2. You can feel superior to people who DON’T go to the gym! “I went to the gym today,” you can drop, as a casual comment. That sentence is enough to garner respect from everyone you know! You MUST be, therefore: Accomplished!, Disciplined! Skilled! Try not to mention this in front of someone you ACTUALLY go to the gym with, lest they snicker when they remember you forgot to put the little stopper on the large barbell thing so the weight doesn’t fall off again or that you accidentally reached for your water bottle under the guy who was weightlifting, and he smacked the thing on your head (True story). Such details ruin the effects you are after.
  3. Not only is it wise to CHOOSE SPECIFIC PEOPLE you are aiming to feel superior to, but it is also wise to choose WHEN you will feel superior them! For example, you can feel superior to MANY people even AT the gym once you’ve gone there for a while!

And then we’ve come full circle, and now YOU are the one making fun of the new people at the gym!

PS – As an aside, I know this may be surprising to you, but I recently read a book that has a chapter about humility in it, and in fact, on reflection, the definition below from this book fits in perfectly with this Newsletter:

Humility (Definition): “The simple and freeing . . . assessment of who God is and who I am. It is rooted in our belovedness and adoption of the Father, so we aren’t tricked into timidity or start feeing like a worm.”

Lower by Zach Meerkreebs

So as another strategy, you could also get fit by going to the gym, working out, and not noticing or caring whether others are judging you or not, because you already found your self-esteem somewhere else!

However, this strategy seems impossible, so I don’t recommend the approach.

You’re welcome!

Good luck!

1 Try to do this humbly.

Thank you for liking me! I like you too! Let’s journey together!

Shatter Your Massive Ego – It’s Time To Be Amazing! (Like Me)

/ Lori Lawe / Leave a comment
man in black tank top and gray shorts holding black smartphone

I went from being the biggest loser at the gym, doing exercises without ANY weights (Don’t judge me), to finding lighter weights than the lightest weights that they put out for the group class and using those.

But I was using ACTUAL five-pound weights by then!

“The ones who keep coming back are the ones who will get stronger!” I was told.

And I kept coming back.

Until one day, my instructor “had chills” when I did an exercise. This was because I did it with good form. Perhaps her chills were simply chills of relief that she didn’t have to spend five minutes out of every ten minutes re-showing me how to use the equipment in a class full of thirty other students so I wouldn’t hurt myself, her, or others nearby*, but they were chills nonetheless!

“She obviously truly cares about her students,” my husband commented, so he thinks she was surprised I did something right, too.

But I’m improving!

And the thing is that my friend didn’t want to come to the gym because she felt intimidated by all the people around her doing stuff right. That’s the dumbest reason not to go to the gym because EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM was once a big loser at the gym, throwing around weights and hurting themselves and others. (Well, maybe some caught on faster than me, but you catch my point!)

Anyway, we often hear people say it’s those who go the gym a lot who have the big egos, right? Like they are the ones who will laugh at us? Wait – maybe they will laugh at us, but if you read this post, you won’t care about that either!

The point is that you are getting stronger.

And that looking like a bit of a loser is not a bad thing!

It means you’re learning.

And similarly, the next time you pray to God, and then open one eye and wonder why the Archangel Gabriel isn’t standing next to you in your bedroom giving you life instructions, maybe take off your head and replace it with a new one. (Replace it with a head with correct thoughts while you’re at it, of course!)

Maybe we’re SUPPOSED to feel like losers when we are in the process of growing spiritually or physically.

For example, every time I woke up early when I was in a season of trying to learn to pray, I felt like I was playing hide and seek with Jesus. “I can’t find you!” I would call out after 1.28 seconds of concerted prayer. But He was there, often (metaphorically) hiding behind a small rosebush in my backyard. The rosebush that hadn’t blossomed yet. He was in plain sight because my rosebush only reached his knees, but He was bent at the waist, laughing.

I was learning that He loves it when we seek Him.

And so, maybe feeling like we’re losers is even good for us sometimes.

It is God’s privilege to conceal things and the king’s privilege to discover them.

Ancient Text

Realizing we’re losers is often part of the heart transformation we need to be able to run into His arms like a small child when He does reveal Himself to us one day, when we do experience his presence, when we do sense His love for us through the arms of His people who love us because they love Him.

And so all this jibber-jabber about people at the gym, for example, that they have huge egos?

Hogwash.

After all, I go to the gym!

I do subscribe, however, to the philosophy that it is wiser to FLAUNT one’s ego, so maybe the having-a-big-ego thing doesn’t apply to me?

My gym did recently install this mat, however.

I wonder why?

It’s probably because there’s someone at the gym, someone else, who has a big ego.

Whatever.

Anyway, I hope you follow my advice by knowing now, with absolute confidence, because I told you so, that you, like me, are, of course, VERY humble, the opposite of those with a big ego.

You’re welcome!

Good luck!

Photo credit: Fit guy by Total Shape on Unsplash

*Most days, note that it was only ONE of those three.

Thank you for liking me! I like you too! (Proven HERE, HERE and HERE!) Let’s journey together!

Advice: Go To The Gym For This One Eye-Opening Reason (NOT Just To Work Out)

/ Lori Lawe / Leave a comment
woman kneeling beside man

My mouth hung open. I stared at the woman walking past me. It was not polite to stare (I know, okay!), but I forgot that my mouth was still hanging open.

I had just worked out at the gym. My muscles were getting EVEN stronger! For example, this time, I didn’t have to go to the far edge of the gym to find lighter weights than the weights set out by our instructor for the group class.

I could use the lightest weights that were ALREADY placed there for the group class INSTEAD of locating even lighter ones!

My muscles were growing, and that’s why I was there! My ego was growing, too! “Look how strong I am getting!” I thought proudly, appreciating my thin little arms with increasing pride.

At the end of the class, as we were putting the weights away, I wiped my brow after picking up and putting away a hefty 10-pound weight.

And that’s when my mouth fell open.

I tried to keep it closed, but I would need both hands to do so, and I didn’t want to drop the weight I was carrying on my foot.

That older woman was carrying 50-pound weights in EACH arm as she helped re-stack the weights.

(!)

I instantly remembered the stories relatives told me of my strapping great-uncle. He was over 6 feet tall, built like a farmer (He was a farmer!) and threw 100-pound sacks of potatoes. “Wow!” I had thought, the day I heard this story.

That same day, I played another game of Candy Crush on my iPad while finishing my ice cream bowl, hoping I could be strong like that!

And so, this year, I joined a gym and began pumping 5-pound weights with full energy and gusto! “Wha-hooo!” I thought, imagining myself pumping 6-pound weights in another six months or so and maybe eventually moving up to 10 pounds in EACH ARM one day!

It turned out that my vision was too small.

Like in a lot of areas of life, during various seasons.

Like for many of us.

How is your vision for who you are becoming, friend?

And so, why should we go to the gym if it’s not solely to work out?

We place ourselves next to others who have a vision for themselves that is greater than the vision we have for ourselves. And seeing another get stronger helps me to have faith that one day, with patience and persistence, I can get a bit stronger, too. Stronger than I ever thought I could be, actually.

Am I willing to pay the price of a bit of sweat?

“One of the standards we ask of our male patients is that they can carry half their body weight in each hand (so full body weight in total) for at least one minute, and for our female patients, we push for 75 percent of that weight.”

Outlive by Peter Attia, MD (Chapter 12)

This goal is not only for the 0.00001% elite but is something that antiaging physicians like Peter Attia recommend that ALL of us who can (barring injuries and ill health) strive to work towards.

I didn’t even know this was possible for someone my age.

And on a not unrelated theme, who do you know, friend, who:

– Seeks to listen to the whispers from God,

– Obeys and is following Him on a journey of adventure,

– Is not (always) a jerk?

Are you willing to pay the price of their lunch? Can you meet with them to have your vision expanded as you listen to them for what is spiritually possible in your life, too?

bird on water falls
man standing in front of LED bulbs

May you become all that God intended for you, friend.

As the song below plays, consider asking God, can you please recall to my mind or introduce me to someone with an inspiring spiritual vision for their life? What nudges do you sense from God, friend?

You use steel to sharpen steel, and one friend sharpens another.

The Message

Image Credits: Woman kneeling beside man by by Jonathan Borba on Unsplash, Bird soaring by by Wolfgang Hasselmann on Unsplash, Tough guy by Xenia Bogarova on Unsplash.

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