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I'm definitely living a healthier lifestyle than both of my parents were at my age (26), but my maternal grandfather was going to school on a tennis scholarship at my age (and pretty darn good at it from what I hear).
As I look at my peers though, I almost look like a stud as far as performance and body compisition go. I just don't understand how someone provided the same oppurtunities for exercise and diet can still manage to allow themself to get out of shape. I realise that genetics and desire may be in my favor, but who doesn't want to look and feel better.
Which brings me to the psychological aspect. The latest generations 40> are much more prone to avoid discomfort than our parents, and especially our grandparents. Whether it be emotional or physical pain we tend to avoid it make an eacuse as to why it is not essential to our emotional growth. It is pain that builds character and self esteem. I'm not sure how to put it exactly but basically it boils down to this: 1. when we fail or don't succed at a goal we stop trying to accomplish it, and we then feel bad for failing. Because we feel bad we go to a psychologist to examine why we feel bad, and the psychologist recommends more therapy to pinpoint the culprit. After therapy and soul searching we determine that it was someone elses fault, and realise that setting defineable goals lead only to pain...Thus 12th, 13th etc. ribbons for childrens competitions, psycho parents yelling at coaches, refs et al.
We have too many outs in life with no sense of self culpability. Nothing is an individuals fault it was because of an external force outside your control. Which is why we have so many 'slackers' out there.
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"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference." - Robert Frost
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