Nature Vs. Nurture

Daily Meditation #366–2/25/2023
In 2023 as the meditations begin year 2, I will be endeavoring to keep them shorter and more to the point. Enjoy my attempts!

I witnessed something remarkable today at the gym.

A young woman came in to workout — she had her standard gym-rat rags of the sports bra, shoes, and sweats — but had a unique “accessory” with her:

A baby’s carseat, complete with newborn!

I thought “Ah, good for her. She’s going to do some cardio!”

But, instead, she placed the gurgling child in their seat directly in front of the deadlifting platform, 5 or so feet in front of her, carseat backed against the mirrored wall.

And she got to work, pounding plates — complete with googly faces during reps to make the incredibly happy baby laugh.

All I could think to myself was what an absolute gift of perspective she is giving this child.

This child will be raised with a lifestyle and understanding that “We often dress a certain way, go to a certain place, and do certain behaviors (lifting weights at the gym) in order to better ourselves.”

From before this person can walk, they’ll have a mindset so ingrained in them of the importance of fitness.
What a gift she is giving that child.

As well — what more proof do we need that we have zero excuses to not do something?

We don’t need to deadlift while making silly faces, necessarily, but there’s no reason we can’t take our tyke on a hike, or do some home workouts with them.

Anything is always better.

Good on her.

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These are distillations from my coming book “YouDaimonia: the Ancient Philosophy of Human Flourishing.”