Conceited: an exaggerated opinion of one’s own ability, etc. (The New American Webster Handy College Dictionary)
Conceited: self-centered, earth revolves around you, everything has to be your way, snobby, bitchy, annoying (Urban Dictionary)
Ah, yet another criticism that I have heard about myself. As you’ve figured out by the above definition, some people think that I am conceited. I don’t hear it that often, but I have heard it in the past, just enough to make me think about it. I chose to comment on this criticism separate from the others that I covered in my earlier post. I handled it this way for a few reasons, the main one being the fact that the other rumors were completely negative, while this one is not as hurtful, or really hurtful at all for that matter. The other three were shots at my lifestyle and morals, being called conceited just makes me think about it enough to sit here writing this. And write I shall.
Ever since I was very young, I have lived an athletic lifestyle. Every day after school during my kindergarten and elementary years I would go right outside and play a sport. Basketball, soccer, football, wiffleball, and kickball were the most popular choices, but I played others too. The teams were always the same: Marcus Jackson and my brother Matt versus my other brother Ray and I. The competition was always very high and sometimes we even argued and jawed at each other. As the four of us grew up together, we began to leave the friendly confines of our yard (our family lived downstairs, Marcus’s upstairs) and travel to places like down into the trailer park to the large field or, later, to Dover Pool to play baseball. When we went to these venues, the four of us teamed up to face rival competition. This was our lifestyle for the 13 years that we lived together.
During high school, I added to my athletic workload by doing more strenuous things such as running with the cross-country team during their practices and joining the football team (later leaving the team before the first game.) I went above and beyond in gym class, surpassing the basic workload. In 7th grade when my class was running the mile around the parking lot, I established that I was completing it noticeably faster than everyone else. I decided to not sit around after finishing, but keep running until the last person had finished. The first time I did this, in that 7th grade gym class, I ran 7 laps (2.5 miles) in the time it took the slowest person to run one mile (3 laps.) I made this a trend that I followed into high school and performed until I graduated.
During my stint with the football team and increasingly more when I entered college, I began to incorporate weight training into my life. I would train at Dutchess 3 times a week while going to the library after and before to take out books on weight lifting. I took pride in this research and put it to use during my sessions in the gym. When I transferred here to Oswego I changed my strategy from toning and strength gaining. Throughout it all, I still got my cardio in, wanting to maintain my running tempo and stamina.
Additionally, throughout my life, I have always been an adamant cyclist, and still am to this very day. I participate in a bike marathon annually, but I don’t need to go into that, I have written about it already. I traveled everywhere via bike as a youth and as the years went on I began to travel further. It is now at point where I want to go somewhere, I bike it, if it is within reason. I solve my boredom during the summer by going on long bike trips, simply to get away.
In case you were wondering, I am going somewhere with this and yes, it does apply to being called conceited. I am trying to show anyone reading this that being fit and healthy dominates my life. I strive to be in really good shape, but not for conceited reasons. I don’t do crunches or sit-ups thinking about who is going to see me shirtless. I don’t do bicep curls thinking about who will get to see my arms when they are flexed. I don’t run a five and a half minute mile hoping everyone on the treadmills to either side of me is looking. I don’t put shirtless pictures of myself up on Facebook to get extra attention, I get enough, for what it is worth. I take the pictures really to monitor my progress and have them as a reference. And yes, I display them, but I never put captions promoting myself or my physical appearance. I simply never have and never will.
There is, however, a fine line between being proud of something you have accomplished, and being conceited, and this is where people fall short when attempting to judge me. I am extremely proud of my physical condition and the shape that I am in, and I have every reason to be. Someone on Formspring in the past wrote something about everyone working out, and I didn’t have to show that I did. They went on to say that I thought my body was “so hot” and that I was so full of myself. I’ll respond with this. Not everyone works out and a large portion of the people who do, suck at it. Anyone can walk into a gym, do some exercises, and leave. Anyone can run on a treadmill for 20 minutes and leave. But I am not anyone, I am me. You are trying to make me feel bad because I not only work out, but I do it properly and have visible results. You’re not going to make me feel bad because I put in the work, the time, the attention, to being this fit. You’re not going to make me feel bad by calling me conceited, because you’re wrong, not to mention, anonymous. I’m not full of myself, I’m proud of myself. I bust my ASS to be in this physical shape, and I don’t care who you are, no one can take that away from me, no one. You don’t like my pictures, you jealous of them, then don’t look at my Facebook and mind your own business. Or work out yourself and improve your own shape, don’t sit around complaining about my pictures. I am in this shape and I only have myself to thank for it.
A girl recently said to me when I brought up the topic of people calling me conceited, “Sorry to say, but if I looked like Megan Fox, I would be proud of it and maybe display it.” Does a talented artist keep his paintings in a vault and never reveal them to anyone? I didn’t think so. ↓↓↓
