Rugged Individualist. Certified USA Triathlon Coach & NASM Personal Trainer, Men's Self Improvement Coach. President of Go Farther Sports. National Ranked Triathlete & 100 Mile Grand Slam Ultrarunner, only the fourth New Yorker to finish four of the oldest and most prestigious 100 mile ultramarathons in the U.S. in only 10 weeks.

Tuesday, December 1, 2020

It's always YOU first. Don't Let anyone else tell you different!

Those who value themselves highly and make the effort to take care of themselves are going to get a barrage of vitriol coming their way. 


 You need to stay strong so that you can provide for others

 

There are a lot of people in the "you must think of the other people first" crowd who will shame you and put you down for being a "problem" in society and for being "selfish."

Don't give in to the crowd. You're absolutely in the right for taking care of yourself first before others.

And no, it's not being selfish. Those who love you and are counting on you NEED you to be physically and mentally strong so that you can be at your best to help them.

The "other people first" crowd have gotten it totally wrong. They want you to risk or even sacrifice your life to make them feel safe.

Let me clarify both positions.

We who work to improve ourselves mostly do it to make sure we are consistently there for our families and for our jobs. If we take an hour or two of our "selfish" time to work out, eat right, learn a new skill, sharpen our minds, and gain confidence, we are ensuring that we will be there for our families if things go bad (loss of job, death in the family, injury of a family member, etc). We know that we can put in more than 100% effort for whatever time is needed to keep the family safe through strife.

Taking care of yourself is NOT being selfish at all. And it is proven also in our teachings.

Let me give you a couple of examples.

First, first responders, or even anyone who has taken a CPR or First Aid course, know it as the THE FIRST rule when administering help. That is "make sure the environment around you is safe" before you move in to administer help. For instance, if there is an exposed live electrical wire nearby or you're in a dangerous, icy stretch of a road, you'll need to address that environment first before you give help. Because, if you just throw yourself into a dangerous situation, you yourself might become a victim also, and that will complicate things further for other rescuers.

Another example is when you board an airline.  As you're being read the safety procedures, the airline rules officially states that if the oxygen masks drop to make sure YOU PUT IT ON YOURSELF FIRST. Then, you're able to administer helping the others with their oxygen masks.

Sounds pretty simple, right.

But now, things are getting twisted.

People are now demanding able bodied, healthy people to risk themselves "for the good of others." And if we don't, we're now "part of the problem."

Examples of this are mask wearing and the Covid-19 vaccines. I'll get into these in great detail later. But I'll keep it general and abstract here.

If the healthy are supposed to take a risk, no matter how small it may be, for those in frail health, then a lot of them risk becoming weak. Then we'll have a lot more weak people and less healthy people.

And then what? Who will help the weak? Has anyone on that side thought this through?

Healthy people who have made the effort to keep themselves strong are ASSETS, NOT LIABILITIES. You want to keep them healthy so that they can help the weak.

If anyone tells you that an action (not taking the vaccine, for example) is selfish and not looking out for others, tell them that you ARE looking out for others by remaining healthy so that I *can* help others.

Anyway, please think this through with an open mind.

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If anyone is looking to improve on their health or their situation and be strong for others, especially during this trying time, you can contact me at ironpete@ironpete.com or visit www.gofarthersports . I'm not just a certified personal trainer and coach, I'm also a life coach, trying to help others seek excellence in other areas as well.



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