Yell At Your Bar

Go ahead, do it. Yell at your barbell.

Or your kettlebell. Or your jump rope. Or your sandbag.

Give it some horrible swearword name and tell it to go f*** itself.

Why?

Because it feels good. Because you'll dump some stress. And because I'd rather have you yell at your barbell than have you yell at your spouse or your kids or your partner or the guy giving you change at the gas station.

That's half the reason we go to the gym anyhow.

Yes, we want to get fit. Sure, we want to be healthy. But, ultimately, we want to be happy. And it's really hard to be happy with the weight of the world on your shoulders.

At some point, you have to dump some of that weight or it will crush you.

So start now.

Start dumping the stuff in your life that just doesn't matter.

Learn to say "no" to unimportant sh** and "yes" to stuff that really matters and to the people that really matter in your life.

Yell at your barbell if you need to.

Glare at it, scowl at it, get good and mad at it. Drop it, manhandle it, call it bad names. (Just don't drop an empty barbell or you risk the wrath of the Ghost of Weightlifting Past and/or your gym owner.)

And then leave all that behind you.

Beat your anger and pain into the metal and the rubber and the platform and leave it there.

Walk out of the gym with a lighter spirit.

And go do good things in the world.