Most of us spend eight hours a day or more of our lives going to work, leaving our homes and families and doing someone else's bidding so that we can pay the bills. Then we do it over and over again, sometimes for more than one master. According to the Conference Board, more than half of all Americans hate their job.
This is hazardous to your health. In fact, it will probably lead to cancer for those who keep it up. How can anyone make such a boldly unscientific and undocumented claim?
Easy. The cancer I'm talking about is "Soul Cancer." You won't find it in any Western medical encyclopedia, yet it's pervasive in our society. In fact, you may be suffering from it right now and not even realize it. Hopefully by now you're wondering, what is this "Soul Cancer," and quite importantly, "Do I have it?!"
As the following anecdote illustrates, it begins … in the mind.
An instructor of mine related a story of how he was once conducting a training seminar for an NFL team. Off to the side of the group of players, listening intently, was an old man. He was into it, too, really engaged in the lessons, even though from the looks of him, he was likely never to scamper into the end zone for the game-winning touchdown. Still, he was spry and keen-eyed as any of the strapping players.
Later, when asked what his deal was, how he seemed so full of life and energy, he said gleefully, "I kicked Soul Cancer!" My instructor, genuinely confused but intrigued, asked, "Soul Cancer?" The old man leaned in close and whispered, "Negativity."
"Got rid of it. Anywhere it was in my life."
At home, at work, in his friendships, the old man had either dumped the people and things that made him feel bad or he changed his outlook about them.
As a result, this geriatric gent was able to see the possibilities and positivity in everything around him. And he was fit, as they say, as a fiddle -- even though, from an actuarial standpoint, he should have been knock-knock-knockin' on Heaven's door by now.
Negativity and Health
If your aim is to gain muscle and lose fat, you, like our friend the wise old man, must grab negativity by its demonic little horns and get it under control. I'm going to share with you here two main reasons why; and I encourage you to think of more reasons that might have special meaning for you.
Knock against Negativity No. 1: STRESS. Stress, that pain-in-the-ass sensation that can range from chronic, low-level worry to that off-the-charts hormone rush you experience when you get into a heated argument, have an accident or meet face-to-fangs with a hungry predator. Stress, whether we like it or not, produces a hormone called cortisol. While this chemical no doubt served some useful purpose in humans before the modern era, in these times it's categorically counterproductive. Cortisol causes muscle to break down and fat to stick around or worse -- accumulate. Doh!
And so any exercise you engage in while your stress/cortisol levels are elevated will be ineffective, at best. At worst, you can risk opening yourself to illness or injury in your weakened state.
"But wait a second," some of you biochemically enlightened readers may be saying: Doesn't exercise itself produce some stress and cortisol? Yes. And it is in fact possible to exercise too much. Anyone who's ever felt "blah" about working out after a period of seemingly great success in the gym, may very well suffer from "overtraining." ("Blah" is the technical term, by the way.)
Seriously, it's an actual physiological state caused by the unwanted surplus of certain chemicals. Those chemicals are produced by too much breaking down of your muscles. In this case, the solution is rest - taking a couple weeks off from the gym so the body can haul away cortisol and other waste products of exercise.
Knock against Negativity No. 2. It's self-limiting. You've surely heard the phrase, "Whether you think you can or think you cannot, you are right?" When I was younger, I used to snicker inwardly at those coaches who went off on kids who said, "can't," as in, "I can't do…X." You know the coaches I'm talking about? The Parris Island drill instructor wannabes who bark out, "'Can't' is no longer a part of your vocabulary!!!! If I hear it out of your mouth, you owe me 50 push-ups!!!"
It all seemed a bit over the top to me at the time. But now, I understand their frustration. That "I can't" type of mindset will absolutely chain you down to whatever situation you're currently in that you don't want. It's Kryptonite to whatever dreams you have, and it's especially dangerous to changing your body and your health for the better. So you need to get rid of it and replace it, right away.
You've heard the phrase, "having a monkey on your back," I presume? Well tolerating negative influence is like giving a piggyback ride to a funky-breathed gorilla all day. Obviously you wouldn't do something that absurd, and yet it's a pretty precise metaphor for the way so many of us have gone through life - including me, for quite some time. The beauty of being a human though is that you can change it.
Cure for (Soul) Cancer
The cure for soul cancer is remarkably simple and yet for most people, exceedingly difficult to embrace. The cure is to simply change your reaction to stressful external events. If the boss is climbing down your throat for spending too much money on paper clips this quarter, take it in stride. He's the one with the problem, not you.
Naturally, you may feel your heart jackhammer inside your ribcage as you are getting chewed out. You may have an adrenaline-fueled inner conversation that goes something like, "is this bleepity-bleep trying to get me to break my foot off up inside his…??" Ignore that voice, it's merely your fight-or-flight response trying to activate. Do acknowledge the discomfort, but consciously decide not to match the negative frequency and intensity of your antagonizer.
Especially when you are outmatched in immediate power or strength, remember, there are alternatives to fighting. Do some stress-relieving exercise like squeezing a stress ball (after the situation's blown over, not directly in the other person's face!) or better yet, leave the area for a mind-clearing walk break. Try placing it in historical perspective - will this incident amount to a hill of beans for you a year from now?
I mention in the motivation podcast that anger, jealousy and other negative emotions can be manipulated to provide fearsome fuel for your workouts. I stand by this, with the caveat that they are not sustainable in the long run. I can tell you from personal experience, hate is a flame that eventually consumes the one holding it.
Ultimately, you want to remove yourself entirely from situations that are causing you far too much pain than joy. Gravitate instead to situations, relationships and inputs that support, sustain and encourage you.
But since it isn't always practical to just up and quit from a dysfunctional job or relationship, you should at least pick up some ways to neutralize the negative energy they bring into your life -- your workouts and your very soul are depending on it!
Until next time, be strong and live well.
