HOW WE ARE BECOME WEAKER ?

When I was a child, I didn’t put much thought into how my grandmother lived. But now I sit here marveling at the very thought of it. How she accomplished so much in a day without ever making mention of the work involved.

My grandfathers passed away many years before I was born.

She worked at several hotels everyday. The women would sit in lawn chairs shucking corn and beans for dinner after work.

That was her life for 70 years. She was as strong as an ox, but never made mention of it. She never made noise about how she activated her lats tilling soil or how she had to cut back on carbs in the winter because she was more sedentary.

She didn’t think about it. She just lived everyday knowing these were things that had to get done. So, when I read this article titled, “The even weaker sex: Faddy diets and fears that muscles aren’t feminine have left modern women weaker than their grannies,” I salut in agreement.

Yeah, I can say that my grandmother was indelibly stronger than I ever will be. There’s no shame in that. She was pretty badass. I grow potted vegetables and bake bread in a $300 bread maker that does the work for me.

What really struck a cord with me: faddy diets and fears that muscles aren’t feminine have left modern women weaker . . .

Is that really it ?

My grandmother never thought about dieting or bulky muscle. But she was into eating clean. Grandma was never overly muscular either. She was rail-thin even though she was totally Primal.

I guess one could argue that modern women have all the luxuries that women in the past never did.

But when I was a child things weren’t so. Grandma had a washer and dryer, a vacuum cleaner, running water, a dishwasher, and many of the same luxuries that I have. Okay, so she wasn’t totally Primal by this point.

I don’t think it’s the fear of being bulky or eating too much that sends modern women fleeing to the couch with their iPhones so they can tweet their daily macro accountability.

I think it’s an innate fear of all things.

We are a society that is scared shitless of everything.

We’re scared of injury, disease, germs, dirt, robberies, getting hit by cars, concussions, aging, peeping toms, pederasts, guns, not having guns, too much real violence, not enough fake violence, loss of internet connection, Facebook/Google+/Twitter hackers, identity theft, zombies, not having a hot vampire to love, too much carbsfatprotein, muscular arms, flabby triceps, bulky legs, fat legs. . .

We think so much about what could possibly go wrong in our lives that we live in a state of paralysis. That is why we are weak and lazy. It’s safer to sit around and talk text and tweet about what we think we should do or aren’t going to do rather than unplugging so we can actually do something.

That is the generational difference. Our grandparents acted on instinct, doing what they must to make life possible. But now the female mind switches to making choices. We must choose to be active, to eat well. All instincts are gone because life comes in a ready-made package with automated systems.

It’s time to turn off automation. It’s time to reach deep down in your belly to pull out those instincts. The ones that tell you to move and eat the way that your body was designed to do. To unplug from a world that you cannot touch or hear and get involved in the world that is tangible and interactive.

So be it if you pick up a barbell or plant an orchard. Just be present in your daily life.

Presence is what we are all missing. Never once do I remember my grandmother not hearing my voice because her mind focused on something arbitrary (she wasn’t around when Facebook and Google+ launched). She was always there with us in that moment. She never talked about all that she had to get done. She just did things, and if she didn’t finish she did them the next day.

When I talk about presence it means to tune out the part of your life that is not actually happening and tune into what surrounds you. Sounds a bit archaic, huh?

So, going back to faddy diets and fears that muscles aren’t feminine have left modern women weaker.

That’s just an excuse to live in this alter state of reality. To think about how doing these certain things will change our perception of an ideal body.

How we don’t want to do these things because we don’t want the perceived results. If this is so, then don’t do those things. Do other things. No one is saying that you have to deadlift or eat skirt steak. Yes, these two activities rank right up there with finding out Mark Cuban left you a fraction of his estate, but they aren’t for everyone.

That doesn’t mean you should sit in a stinking heap of fear either. Look where that’s getting you—smack in the headlines of a news article that goes on to talk about how you can’t even whisk an egg without hurting yourself.

Is that the legacy you want to leave in this world? Is this what you want your grandchildren to write about on the Internet 30 years from now?

I write all of this not to point a finger at society. I am just as guilty when it comes to not being present in my life at times. I’ve mastered the art of ignoring the world around me by shoving my face into a handheld device or opting out of a weekend activity because I downloaded 3 seasons of Breaking Bad.

I write all of this to evoke change within us. May we finally adopt those skills our grandparents and great-grandparents tried to instill in us. A sense of pride in our homes, our bodies, and our lives.

If we take this back and own it, strong will always be sexy.

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