Pigeonholing Myself

In high school, we have so many dreams and activities. In order to be competitive for college, we fill our transcripts with a crazy variety of activities: math club, Boy Scouts, flying lessons, karate, cross country, guitar, piano lessons. This is in addition to our classes, which tend to cover a wide range of subjects: precalc, biology, English, painting. Then in college, we start off with a fairly broad range of topics to study, and as we move towards our major, the subjects narrow down to one or two: psychology and international studies of the Middle East. Then, after college, we get a job and are expected to become experts in one single field.

I used to consider myself a renaissance man, with interests in a wide range of activities, but I’m not so sure anymore. After all, I spend so much of my time studying fitness and in training. My conversations with people tend to gravitate towards talk about health, fitness, and nutrition. Last night while bartending,  a guy at the bar wanted to watch the NFL draft, and I had no clue how to have a conversation with him. I never really followed or understood football, but it made be wonder if I’m either out of touch with society or simply too narrow in my interests.

Of course, there is the possiblity that ‘pop culture’ is itself a field of interest that one can be too narrowly focused on. But I wonder if people pigeonhole me based on my interests? Am I that guy you can only talk fitness to? Am I becoming a stereotype?

Commitment=Limitation?

To a certain extent, we have to commit ourselves to interests and activities to get the most out of them. I am an athlete and a coach. I’m not just some average guy who works out. Exercise, fitness, nutrition, sports motivation, unlocking the secrets of human performance: these things are my life right now, as well as my job. I like being able to call myself a CrossFitter. I am part of that community, and yeah, I connect with other CrossFitters in a way I can’t connect with others.

But I’m also a Real Foodie/locavore (wannabe)/SOLE food advocate. I can have really passionate awesome conversations with that community as well. There isn’t a huge degree of overlap. So maybe the foodies think I’m a fitness nut, and the CrossFitters think I’m a food geek. Maybe it’s the outside connections that define us within our communities, because those things make us stand out. These are also the things that let us bring value to our communities. I am a better CrossFitter, and a better coach, because of my understanding and passion for real food and associated nutrition. That’s what makes me stand out in the CrossFit community. In the food community, my use of real food for fitness defines me a bit, as well as my social media connections.

I’ll admit, food and fitness still seem pretty narrow as far as interests and expertise go. I consider myself a writer, though this blog has languished in the wake of my recent triple employment. I am apparently becoming an expert on social media and using Facebook and Twitter to engage with followers and communities of like-minded individuals. I still consider myself a gamer at heart, and I feel a bit out of sorts when I haven’t played a video game in too long.

So, here’s a list of quirky things you maybe didn’t know about me that have nothing to do with fitness and nutrition:

• I am an Eagle Scout, and proud of it.
• I have canoed in the Boundary Waters and Quetico almost every summer of my life since I was 8. I still prefer backpacking.
• I follow four webcomics religiously: Ctrl-Alt-Del, Least I Could Do, Girls with Slingshots, Looking for Group, and XKCD.
• I am a sucker for sappy romantic movies (The Notebook, that new Miley Cyrus film) as well as pseudo-thoughtful romantic comedies (Serendipity, Sleepless in Seattle, Love Actually).
• Have always been interested in sexual psychology and take the time to study and read up on it.
• Find Spongebob Squarepants extremely amusing. Also strangely invested in Disney Channel sitcoms.
• I never miss a chance to browse through the latest Dungeons and Dragons books and reminisce about my days as a DM. I sometimes still draft adventures in my mind.
• I talk to myself out loud, and until recently thought this was normal behavior. Apparently it is not…
• I only play guitar when I’m in love.
• Secretly wish I had the time to read and obsess over comic books, but I’ve never actually read a comic in its entirety.
• I only like classic rock or up-to-the-minute music. Jimmy Hendrix and Lady Gaga.
• Black, white, blue, sandy, and grey make up 90% of my wardbrobe. There are three red items. I wear my leather jacket everywhere.
• My totem animal was a wolf until this past summer, when it became an eagle. I know this because I went out specifically looking for an animal and an eagle called me to its tree. A few days later, an eagle feather blew all the way across a field right to my feet. I don’t know what the significance of this is yet, and yes, I do believe it is significant.

So hopefully, this proves that there is more to me than fitness and nutrition, with a splash of social media 🙂

Thoughts on defining yourself, or limiting your definition? Post to comments.

Image source: Stig Nygaard on Flickr