I told myself a lot of times that I will never set foot inside a gym. It was because first, I don’t want my exercise to be mostly done with machines, second, I am a little bit scared of what the machines will do if I do not use it right, third, I don’t like the thought of sharing equipment, and lastly, I don’t want to be in a place where there are a lot of people, noise, and sweat whenever I want a peace of mind while exercising.

So this Wednesday morning, I forced myself to go to the gym. At first, I was doubting because there might be a lot of people but then I shrugged the shyness off. When I was about to change, I thought of making a little research on the equipment that I will be using which was the treadmill so I turned my laptop on and did my researching. It was controllable at first but then I made a mistake by logging in to my Facebook. Seriously, for a minute or so, the magic of internet got me under-spell and I almost didn’t go to the gym if I had not force myself to log off. So I dressed up and went to the gym immediately before I started having second thoughts. When I got there, I started panicking for I seriously don’t know how to use the treadmill (so much for researching). I fiddled around (but not too obvious for I don’t want the man running beside me thinking like I’m lost or something) until I finally got the machine working. Happiness! :) So I stepped in, synchronized my steps with the moving belt, and let myself listen to Katy Perry (Teenage Dream is actually a good song to jog to).

It took me a lot of courage to go to the gym and once I got inside, my perspective about the place changed. The gym is actually a good place to exercise (minus the sweat around you) if you want to have a peaceful exercise or you don’t feel like going outside. Plus, it’s also great when you live in a condominium or in a place where there’s no park nearby. So take up all the courage you have and try to visit the gym at least once or twice a week (and if you’re thinking of visiting only, please, use even just one equipment and you won’t regret it). Oh! And I got to tell you, doing a selfie in the gym is probably not a great idea unless if you’re so proud of your achievement like me. ;-)

Labels: achievement, gym, happiness

My professor in Classical Literature asked us the question when we were talking about a minor soldier who left his wife, whom he recently married, for war. A lot of soldiers lost what could have been their happiness when they left for a war that lasted for twenty years. Twenty years they sacrificed blood and sweat for honor. Twenty years they could have spent back home with their wife and children. Yet they went on with the war for the sake of their family’s safety (but this purpose became mainstream and forgotten once they enter the battlefield and hubris clouded their vision) but mostly, for honor. I understand that it is part of their culture to attain for honor because it is the best choice to be remembered to their future generation. It is true that honor will immortalized them because they know they won’t live forever but they know that their memories on earth will live forever. But what they don’t know, only which they will realize in the end, is the worth of it. In the book, soldiers came from places thousand miles farther than Troy. These soldiers left their family and the life that could have given them happiness. They left everything and lost everything from death. Did they gain honor? Yes they did but they died from pursuing it. Honor is costlier than it sounds because they paid their lives for that. Homer portrayed honor as worthy yet tragic. If you ask me, it’s the road to honor that matters most. Its how you got there that will make people remember you. If you do good things, people will remember you. If you do bad things, people will still remember you. So to gain something, it is your responsibility on how you will pursue it and the worth of it will depend on how you did it.

Labels: advice, happiness, honor, Iliad, immortality, life, literature, loss, school, tragedy

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