The Wonder and Worry of a Passive Observer

Yesterday’s DEUCE Day at lululemon Santa Monica was a hit. Amongst the crowds, Caveman Coffee mint juleps, and coconut ice cream from Kippy’s, the store was buzzing with energy. Much of this energy surrounded the fourteen and a half foot tall “High Striker” of carnival fame, where the participant swings a giant hammer with the hopes of catapulting the metal indicator up the meter to ring the bell at the very top.

With each crash of the hammer, more and more attention was drawn to the center of the room. Immediately, I saw faces of men and women of all ages take on a familiar look. It was the look that became so familiar of passerby’s on the Santa Monica bluffs during the FakeGym days and the faces we see everyday on the side walk of Lincoln Blvd when people are witness to others spectacular displays of fitness at DEUCE.

It’s a specific look where people are equal parts intrigued of their potential and equal parts overwhelmed with their self-admitted underachievement. They want to know what they are capable of, but they are simultaneously self-aware of their reality. “I should be able to do this. If I can’t, I know why…”

It’s sad, and I hate it.

The usual suspects don’t have that look. Sure, they want a successful result, but they’re more comfortable, because they are self-aware that they are an active participant in their own self-betterment. Maybe they ring the bell or maybe they don’t, but there’s no guilt. They know they are training and living a life towards their potential. In that, there is no doubt and there is no guilt.

That is a remarkably different existence, folks. It’s one worth living, in my opinion.

 

Logan Gelbrich

@functionalcoach