No Bullshit November: Breaking Through The Self Narrative

I used to tell myself I was a great athlete and fit person.

By conventional metrics, I was. I excelled in many individual and team sporting endeavors. Working out with teammates in the gym, pushing ourselves to the brink with not a lot of cares in the world other than our resulting on-field/ice/court performance. Those were the days!

Fast forward to present day and all the activities I once derived a great deal of self confidence from, I’ve now told myself I’m too old and banged up to partake in. I’ve struggled with a nagging foot injury for over two years and haven’t been able to run or participate in sports where running or plyometric agility is required. I told myself that my downtown, office dwelling lifestyle is not conducive to being a fit person. This internal dialogue I’ve let transpire has allowed me to rationalize that being 10 lbs overweight is okay. Enough is enough, I’m calling bullshit on myself.

What I’ve learned is that we are a reflection of the self-narrative we tell ourselves. As we go through life, life experiences shape us and preconceived notions build up in our head. If we don’t find ways to bust down these fictitious walls, it’s pretty easy to just accept our fate and let the “real world” tell us who we are and what our place in the world is.

Do you think the Tom Brady and Elon Musk’ of the world let some internal critic permeate their mind with negative thoughts about what they or society thinks of themselves? Not a chance. As Tony Robbins says, “we get what we tolerate” and those that truly soar in life don’t tolerate negativity and excuses.

When I assess my struggles with my present day level of fitness, it wasn’t for nothing. I consciously put my key priority elsewhere, that being my career and building important relationships into my life. I don’t regret any of this. I’ve met so many people that will be lifelong friends and have built a very strong and diverse foundation in the oil & gas industry in only two years.

However, if I continue to treat my body as an afterthought, regardless of whether my professional endeavors take off to new levels, it will be hard for me to feel intrinsic happiness if I don’t feel good about my body. If one isn’t able to feel innate contentment when thinking about themselves, the only contentment in life they can feel is from external stimuli and sources. That’s not exactly the most fulfilling way to live your life.

We are only born with one body and it’s about time I start treating mine as such.

I am starting a personal initiative called “No Bullshit November” as my commitment to changing the self-narrative I’ve been telling myself for far too long. What will I need to change this narrative? A coat of armor forged in ironclad self-discipline and sacrifice.

No Bullshit November is a commitment not only to myself but to the people around me. Doing things for yourself is important but if you can find a purpose greater than yourself, achieving your goals becomes much more powerful. While I am going to keep my purpose and granularities of my No Bullshit November goals to myself and a few close friends, you can probably guess what they revolve around.

If you’re struggling to identify what is holding you back from enjoying the feels and fruits of life, here are a few things I’ve recently done that have helped me gain perspective and identify what is truly important in life:

• Enroll in Dale Carnegie Training and work on becoming a better communicator. It’ll be one of the best investments you make in yourself. The Canada-Alberta Job Grant can help.
• Write down a list of things that once upon a time, you really enjoyed and were good at but don’t do anymore. Then write down all the bullshit things you tell yourself are important nowadays but in essence, just get you caught up in the rat race of life. Figure out how to replace these monotonous activities with both activities of the good ol’ days and fun new ones to try.
• Watch the Netflix documentary “Tony Robbins: I Am Not Your Guru”. Don’t watch the trailer, just press play and go for a ride!
• Build layers of accountability in your life. Tell people who you trust and care about you what your goals are. If you’re the only one who knows about your goals, it’s pretty easy to let them slide because no will ever know. In the process of communicating your goals, if that person is really important to you, tell them. They’ll appreciate it and so will you.
• Find people who already live with the attitude you’d like to adopt.

While this article only took me two Sunday morning Americanos spent in a coffee shop, the courage it took for me to call bullshit on myself is years in the making. The self image I have of my body is etched into my brain from the preconceived notions and narrative I’ve been telling myself all along. Will I find more genuine contentment in life if my physical fitness is where I want it to be, time will tell. But I won’t know if I don’t give it an honest effort.

If you want to join me on my No Bullshit November journey, let’s chat. I’d love to exchange some ideas and war stories because it’s not going to be without its challenges. But nothing worth fighting for ever is!

“We don’t rise to the level of our expectations. We fall to the level of our training.” – Archilochus

What is the self-narrative you've been telling yourself and believing for too long? Is it time to call bullshit?

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