Perception.
The online google dictionary describes perception as 1. the ability to see, hear, or become aware of something through the senses. And 2. the way in which something is regarded, understood, or interpreted.
I am going to focus on the second point in this blog. The way in which something is regarded, understood, or interpreted.
We all see things differently and that’s what makes us who we are as humans. What we see and what we believe makes us become the people who we are meant to be.
Lately in the gym l am hearing about what other fitness spaces are doing, how they are cleaning, and running their spaces. First of all ‘not my monkey, not my zoo.’ But this has got me thinking more about how people see things.
Cleaning for example, for some reason you can never clean as good as your mum. I’m not sure what it is, or maybe its the fact my mum just bleaches everything (even coffee cups) but for some reason no matter how hard l scrub l can’t get things as clean as mum.
So what l see to be clean is unclean in my mother’s eyes. But clean in my eyes. It is the way l see cleaning should be, l am happy with the standard of cleaning, as l don’t use chemicals, we just do things differently.
The way l choose to clean things works for me, and the way mum cleans things works for her - its the way that we perceive cleaning.
The same comes to your health and fitness journey. The way it works for you may not work for others, you might like to run while another likes to swim. It is very easy to pass comment onto another person, when they are doing something different to you.
The main reason others put a negative comment on a act that you do, is because they are scared and fearful. Fearful that they are doing the wrong thing and maybe just maybe what you are doing might work better, or maybe not.
Kinda the old ‘grass is greener on the other side’.
It is easy to shot others down to make yourself feel better. It is human nature, no matter how positive people can be they will always have some negative to say, it’s being human.
If you are making negative comments about something, my tip is to have a look at you. Take some time to explore where the comment is coming from and why. I know with my training when things are going right l sent of different signals, l start to look for things that are negative from others. This A. making myself fell better, B. it takes the focus away from what is really going on and C. gives me something other than the problem to complain about.
I am lucky enough to have a great Coach who pulls me up on it, and also a husband, who is quick to say ‘oh no this bandwagon again!’
With everything that is going on in the world today, everyone is seeing things a little different to other person. We are all dealing, surviving in different ways. Does anyone have the right way to handle this situation? There is no map to follow, and this is life. This is all new to all of us. All we can do is be kind to another and remember that people see things differently, and that’s what makes the world the world.
And also stay home if you are feeling unwell, keep 1.5m apart, wash your hands and wear a mask!