Hey John,

Serious question, do you ever get tired of helping people?  Or rather… trying to help people?  I feel like I’m constantly leading horses to water.  Family and friends come to me complaining that they can’t lose fat, can’t gain muscle, and can’t overcome ailments like celiac and IBS….  They ask for advice.  I tell them to stop eating processed foods, fast food, pasta, etc, and they almost always freak out and tell me how wrong I am.  It’s like people just absolutely refuse to accept that their “beliefs” are wrong.  So they continue on believing that eating meat is bad, eating bread and pasta with every meal is good, and running marathons is a sign of health and fitness.  I’m often shocked at how people completely deny fast food might not be the best choice for lunch every single day.

As I read through some of the questions on TTMJ, I can’t help but wonder if you ever feel like saying, “Fuck It!” and just giving up on people.  How do you deal with people who simply won’t listen to reason?  I have even gone as far as printing out peer reviewed research journals and handing them the articles, and they still refuse to believe the research.  I think I’m going to just start lying to people and saying I’m a vegan and go to spinning class 6 hours a day.

Thanks!

Chad

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Chad,

I have moments where I would like to just watch it burn. I get annoyed and overwhelmed and think my sanity would be better served by just going dark; simply go back to lifting weights in my garage and using the Internet for what it was intended for, downloading music, booking travel and wasting time.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61XUb28jkUI[/youtube]

Then I get an email from a friend telling me how well his football team did this year. How the players are improving by leaps and bounds and are excited to start training again.

Or the email I got from Eric in Monrovia letting me know one of his athletes earned a D-1 scholarship.

Or the coolest emails from some FOB in the middle of Afghanistan, telling me the training has helped make better soldiers.

Or text messages from other friends updating me on their progress. Many have been following the program since the early days and still making great amateur-ish gains on the program.

And the Power Athlete crew stopping by to BBQ and have drinks on a Sunday because they haven’t seen me in a few days. Having twins is pretty time consuming.

What keeps the wheels turning are friendship. And taking part in the improvements of those friends and the personal learning and growth that takes place as a result of it. Life is a collection of experiences, many positive, many negative, but all invaluable. And I still believe what my father told me, the mark of a great man is measured by the effect you have on others.

Iron sharpens iron.

John