To Hell with Narcissism

By Staff Report
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Updated: October 4, 2016

By Allison Moyer – When you see an athlete turn up a great arm that’s taken him years of hard training to acquire, what do you think? What do you think when you see a strong confident woman showing off the swell in her quads in tight gym shorts? If you’re a non-trainer who’s never seen the inside of a gym, chances are the only words that come to mind are “vain,” “arrogance,” “conceit,” or maybe the phrase “self admiring ass.” Something about a confident person is intimidating, so intimidating in fact that many times confident individuals are met with apprehension, disgust or even hatred.

I’m not sure what it is about physical beauty or success that garners so much distaste from the general public. Somehow a co-worker had discovered a clip of my posing in contest shape. Suddenly my success at work was no longer the topic at hand but rather my “arrogance” and the “self love” I displayed in my posing. I was very aware from the various looks I was receiving what some people were thinking of me. Their faces spoke of confusion, disgust and contempt. What is it about the human body that makes it so taboo?

I guess I belong to another school of thought. The world in which I was raised was a world that celebrated and illuminated achievements, rather then shunning or ignoring them. Where I come from, best selling novels are read and discussed and famous works of art are placed on display. After all, Van Gogh didn’t paint a masterpiece only to stick it in the closet away from the public eye. It’s shocking to me that achievement and mastery in the human body should be any different.

When you are passionate about something, it becomes a daily focus, a daily consuming of the mind. I find lifting to be no different. I am constantly thinking about my training, about the weight, about the progress I’ve made and the steps I’ve yet to take in my journey. That passion is what drives me to work, day in, and day out, at my training. It propels me through every grueling step on the Stairmaster, through every barbell I shoulder and every dumbbell I lift and curl. It’s what drives me to prep my meals and drink gallon after gallon of water. When you are that passionate and focused about something you’re dedicated to, how can the public expect you to keep it in the dark?

I say enjoy the fruits of your labor; you built it. My body is my masterpiece and to embrace that is neither arrogant, nor vain, nor conceited. I’m proud of what my hard work has produced and I intend on showing it off without regret or second thought. Who cares what others think anyhow? To hell with narcissism.

Photo Courtesy of Weiford Watts