Extreme Environments Research and Consulting by Melanie Boling, Founder of Boling Expeditionary Research.
Competitive fitness environments, particularly weightlifting contests, provide fertile ground for the manifestation of these traits. Through intense regimens, social validation, and visual spectacle, these events may function as both coping mechanisms and maladaptive stages for performance-driven identity construction.
When the ego reigns, our emotions cloud our thoughts, and our choices are unproductive and sometimes harmful. When we do not like who we are— which again, is true for all human beings, to varying degrees—we punish ourselves with activities that are disguised as pleasurable: excessive eating, alcohol or drug abuse, jumping between fleeting relationships or sexual partners, and endless, meaningless distractions.
“Anything of value is worth the effort””
