The Ability To Thrive

There is this test done on fleas in regards to their jumping ability. The common known fact is that they can jump thousands of times higher than their own height. That means that they can jump out of a jam jar with ease. But put the lid on the jar and eventually they will stop trying. Over time, they learn to live within their environment. Even with the lid off, they won’t or can’t jump out. They’ve been conditioned.

Humans do that too. We put our own jam jar lid on our ability to thrive outside of our environment we become accustomed to. Fleas don’t like it nor dislike it. They, like us, just live with it. We don’t know any different.

But there are those who break the mould. I personally know people who do. I’ve trained them or I’ve lived with them or I’ve being friends with them. They’ve all had one thing in common and that is their refusal to accept somebody (or themselves) to tell them that they can’t do it.

As a kid my limits seemed to be mapped out for me. Coming from a council estate watching my parents struggle through one redundancy to the next and those who I looked up to for support in my education and extra curricular activities telling me that I wouldn’t amount to much, I was the perfect example of a flea in a jam jar with the lid on.

As an adult I haven’t turned into a Premier League footballer, a multi millionaire, a Love Island contestant, a record breaker or a famous singer. That isn’t what being able to thrive is all about and if that’s what we see as being successful then we’re all screwed…with the lid screwed tightly.

No. The ability to thrive is to create an environment, or a mindset, that says ‘I will not be limited by what I have or what I am told I am.’

Seeing as I’m a Personal Trainer I guess people expect me to be talking about how we thrive in the gym. However, we rarely achieve what we want to in the gym if we aren’t thriving outside of it. So my point is about an individual as a whole. I mean where we live, how we live and treat others and the credit that we give to ourselves and our physical and mental health.

People, or society, will try to put us in the jar and turn the lid. Most people will do this without knowing that they are doing it to you. They don’t mean you any harm. My understanding is that they feel the restrictions bestowed upon them, so don’t know any different. They expect nothing of you because their own expectations are limited on themselves. Putting you in a jar and screwing on the lid soothes their own mind. You are restricted in causing a stir to their own lives.

‘I’m leaving the army. I’m quitting building college. I’m dating a girl outside of my race. I’m leaving my well paid job to retrain and run my own business. I’m leaving this city. I’m leaving the country’, are all actual quotes I’ve told people and it was met with shock, mockery, fear, whispering and funny looks. They didn’t like the changes that I was making because it made THEM feel uncomfortable. It burdened their belief in that I was this person who would drift into the jam jar. I’m not. I wouldn’t.

We all drift sometimes. Coasting seems easy. But at times we need to find the gear and get into our lane and overtake those who hold us back. You won’t even need to speed. Take your time. Some people have almost stopped. Overtaking is easy if you check your mirrors and step on the gas a little.