When Progress Stops

There's something I will probably never understand. Most likely it is my shortcoming, most likely I'm not capable of understanding why people are doing this, when I see where it leads. It's becoming a huge problem for everyone, yet so many can still not see it, or they just choose not to, as it's easier.

Years ago, when I decided to try to do the impossible, which was running a half marathon (maybe more), the first thing I did was to join a group on one of the social media platforms, mostly to get advice from experienced runners and to learn from their experience and mistakes, rather than making my own. I was a special case as due to my back problems doctors advised me against it, but I wanted to do it anyway, to prove myself I'm capable. This is an area where mistakes and stubbornness can cost you dearly, which is why so many end up on the operating table with their knees and ankles destroyed, so I thought better learn first and try to stay out of trouble.

Photo by Aziz Acharki on Unsplash

There were a lot of people in the group, who joined with the goal of losing weight. The group leader was also once overweight and started the group to help others. We had professional trainers, which was a huge help, and several challenges as well, to help motivate people stay on track.

To have a competitive advantage in this sport, you need quite a lot of effort invested and when you start with a huge disadvantage, your chances to be in the top are slim to none and this is where the problem started for those with a lot of weight to lose. They could not get nowhere near a comfortable place, frustration started to build up and here comes the shocking truth about how the human mind works and what some of the came up with.

Photo by Gaston Roulstone on Unsplash

The solution they saw for their problem was to ask for easier rules for overweight people. It was something like the more you had to lose, the easier the rules should have been for you, at least this is how they thought. There were other challenges, specially designed for them, with loser rules, but they wanted to be in the big league, thus they wanted rule changes.

I've never participated in any of those challenges as I knew I'm competing with myself, no one else and I had to adapt my effort to my capabilities.

Photo by Ryoji Iwata on Unsplash

The point they were missing was that the goals should have been to lose weight, get healthy and in the process, get better at jogging/running as well, but as I said, such a progress requires a lot of effort.

I see this behavior on Hive every single day, which indicates that people are kind of the same everywhere and in every field I'd say, obviously excepting those who are not.

Photo by NordWood Themes on Unsplash

We have an endless number of communities, each with different rules. Some are general, where you are free to post what you want, while others are niche and have stricter rules. The funny thing is, there's a place for everyone, but not everyone wants to be where they fit, most want to be where they don't fit.

There's a solution to that too. You need to up your game, be better at writing, take better photos, buy a better camera or a musical instrument, make better videos, study more, you name it. The goal should be to rise to that level, not just because that's required, but because it benefits you long term as well, your value grows, so to speak, but it's always easier to cut corners, bend rules and ask for special treatment. The funny thing is, you can argue with them all day and you will never get anywhere as all they can see is to succeed without effort.

Photo by Jukan Tateisi on Unsplash

We live in a strange world. I don't even want to mention countries where standards are lowered in key positions, because people are not up to the task. This is when progress stops and you're starting going backwards.

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