Once again, life has pulled me away from PE, and even away from just being in shape in general. I spend most of my free time with my family... and what remains often goes towards my profession (I'm constantly studying/ reading/ or working on side projects).
I think taking care of myself, working out, improving myself and reaching my PE goals/ should be on the radar, but I find it's quite difficult to balance everything. I can't regret putting my family before myself, although it has probably had a negative effect on my health (I'm quite out of shape these days, and as a former college athlete it seems a bit sad to see myself in this condition). I have a pretty sedentary job as well, which also plays a part in this....
Lately I have had some major victories with my career progression (recently), and it seems my families' needs will be met better than before. I'm hoping I can get back to PE, and really lock myself into some long term good habits with PE until I reach my ultimate goals once and for all. I have zero regrets at this point in time: In fact, if anything I may have put more time into PE than I should have (however, I felt it was necessary to educate myself and avoid injury... in the process I hope I have helped others as well--e.g. with some of the guides I have written; this was my small contribution to the greater PE community). As a Christian, I believe in helping others; I just never thought I would be assisting others with something like PE :biggrin1:
As a Christian, I often debated whether PE was OK with God. I believe everyone should follow their own heart and conscience. At least in my case, I believe it's OK to PE as long as I'm not neglecting my family or my other obligations because of it. I really don't see this as a forum for religion; so although there's more to my philosophy than that, I think that's enough (PE doesn't seem to mix well with religion).
Anyway, as far as self-improvement is concerned, I think PE definitely has its place. Truly, this is a mostly taboo subject in society (I mean, really,can you strike up a conversation about penis enlargement with a stranger and expect that conversation to end well?). For those of us who are either naturally small, or naturally 'growers' (genetically, I fall into the grower category), PE is something that gives us increased confidence (once we start seeing results). Taboo-ness (is that a word?) aside, I think PE generally is a good thing.
Any good thing can be twisted and become bad when used in the wrong way. E.g. food is a good thing, but we can abuse it by over-eating. Working out is a good thing but some people actually damage their bodies by doing too much for too many years. Getting sunlight is a good thing, but massive over-exposure can prematurely age our skin and make our skin prematurely look like a worn out leather handbag. Religion is a good thing, but overzealous Muslims, and the middle age crusades demonstrate dangers of fanaticism (and senseless acts of aggression against innocents). And now to my point: PE is also a good thing; although like just about any other good thing in this world, it could potentially be twisted (perhaps the greatest danger is that we could be selfish and neglect our wives, families or other responsibilities).
At least for me, PE is a very private and worthwhile way of improving myself.
It seems my time constraints are getting worse, which pushes me away from hanging (and towards maybe a more manual type routine). I of course am a big advocate of hanging, but it appears my own life may cause me to take a different approach with my PE. I think our approach needs to match the amount of time we have to dedicate to an endeavor; and it seems I will be required to change my PE approach (I'm not sure I see a way around that; at least not in the near future). Perhaps it will take me twice as many years to reach my goal one way, vs another, but if I can do it without compromising what I feel is right, then I think I have done a great thing... by both staying true to myself, while reaching my personal goals without sacrificing my duty to others, such as my family.
