I've been a consistent gym-goer for about 3 1/2 years now, and I can count on my hands how many times I've intentionally skipped the gym. First and foremost, I can't even reference my physique without some people reading this internally rolling their eyes and thinking I am conceited.

This is could be the furthest thing from the truth.

Yes, I am proud of myself and what my body looks like, and yes I think I can talk about my body in a positive image. Having a positive self-perception in today's society is too often confused for arrogance; even I thought this to be true for a long time. Most of the time, however, the people who seem to be the most confident are that way because they have overcome whatever insecurities they have and are truly happy with what they are doing with their lives.

People always criticize the outside of your body because they don't know what the inside is like.

So, when I'm not being called vain for being satisfied with busting my ass day in and day out for 3 years, there are other negative aspects of living a fit lifestyle.

The hardest thing for a guy is to find a girl who loves to be in the gym as much as he does. 95% of girls don't go to the gym because they are intimidated by the overwhelming masculine presence in the gym. It seems to be like the other 5% of women who go are already in a relationship and don't want to be bothered in the gym. I don't know where the magical location guys find girls who love working out, and I don't think I'll ever find it.

Let's say you do find that significant other who shares your passions- that doesn't mean your friends will share your passion though. In a perfect world, we could be friends with other people who are exactly like us... but this isn't a perfect world, and we like other people for their differences.

The majority of my friends don't understand the meaning of sacrifice for a long-term goal, and I don't expect them to.

But, you can't go out and party every night and eat like a typical college student and expect to have a ripped body and sculpted abs. Someone would be crazy if they think that I like to eat eggs and spinach for breakfast, a low carb lunch, and chicken and rice for dinner every day.

I make the sacrifices of eating healthy the majority of the time and not going out every night because I don't want temporary satisfaction. I want something permanent that I can hang on the wall and be proud of. As fun as devouring a juicy bacon cheeseburger and going on week-long drinking benders may be in college, the satisfaction with that is only temporary.

So, theoretically in this perfect world, you find someone who loves to workout as much as you do and your friends are sympathetic to your greater desire of self-improvement instead of critical, there's still something wrong. There's the overwhelming realization that you are different from everyone else, more so than most people are different from one another.

Everything about you is different: your habits, perception of the world around you, and your work ethic. Because other people can't accept your differences, you find it nearly impossible to be entirely happy with the choice you made to live a fit lifestyle.

We live in a society where we crave others' satisfaction, yet we're rejected when we find happiness within ourselves.

Social media has programmed us to behave in such a way that our happiness is more dependent on other people's perceptions of us. Fit people can't be entirely happy because of the criticism they face for living a sacrificial lifestyle. But, that's why many of us go to the gym in the first place- to work out the frustrations and struggles we endure with ourselves and other people.

To any of my fit family out there who understand the struggles of carrying the image that we do, I leave a quote that has a different meaning and depth for me every time I see it.

"What is the point of being on this Earth if you are going to be like everyone else?"- Arnold Schwarzenegger.