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.
