The gym is more than a hot, smelly place filled with sweat. It is not about your size or ego, and it is not about who can lift the most. For me, the gym is a stress reliever. The best stress reliever after a long day of classes. It is a playground for improvement and a step out of reality. It is my own personal recess before a night full of homework and studying.
For me, the gym has been a place of redemption, where I have been able to recover a portion of my former self and things lost in time by working on myself both inside and out. It is a place where I can demolish goals, judgment free. The gym is a place where I am in competition with nobody but myself, and it is a place that is working under no administration. Nobody forces me to show up or tells me what to do. I show up for myself to work on myself. Working out is something nobody can take from me.
Weight lifting is criticized and often misunderstood, but it just takes the right person, somebody fully committed to understand the importance. Weight lifting has changed my life. It has given me strength both mentally and physically. It has restored my confidence and tested my dedication. Weight lifting has motivated me and set me on the path of success, all because it satisfied the part of my life I lost: competition. But in the gym, it self-competition.
Never again while I have the gym will I cross any dark paths because weight lifting has given me the strength to build bridges and light up all roads. In the gym, I am my best self, but my only goal is to be better than I was yesterday. In a world that is constantly changing, the gym remains the same. It is stable. Whether it is a good day or bad day, rain or shine, blistering hot or freezing cold outside, the gym will welcome me. Weight lifting is more than a hobby. It is a lifestyle.