Jack Jones was adopted from China to an American family. Growing up, he was picked on in school because of his race and skinny frame.
When he saw Arnold Schwarzenegger for the first time in a film, he thought that becoming muscular would make girls like him and solve everything. He became obsessed with bodybuilding — and it worked — at first.
He soon fell into his deepest depression ever.
Watch his video to discover why:
Jack is one of my favorite nerd-themed fitness YouTubers because of his internal and external transformation and because I can relate to him on many levels. I was a skinny Asian kid with few friends too. I believed that getting girls would fix most issues.
His story illustrates a deep importance in discovered inner peace and happiness – a well-being that is resilient and constant no matter what fluctuations of tough times life hands you.
Now, you may argue that maybe he didn’t feel happier because he thought that just being more muscular would make girls flock to him without him having to say or do anything but it actually didn’t affect how they behaved around him at all unless he talked to them and asked them out, which he did not do.
Maybe.
There are a lot of factors at play with dating and maybe shyness is one of them. If you’re not talking to any girls or expressing interest, how can they even respond more favorably to you or your physique?
Life is complicated at times and although we sometimes like to oversimplify and say that wealth or physique are everything, that’s not always the case.
I’m not ripped like Jack (yet). But he brings a great lesson that I constantly need reminding on.
I’ve become almost an expert at the science of happiness since I love to read books and watch videos on the topic in my free time. I’ve written extensive articles on the topic.
Of all people, I should know that you have to constantly keep reminding yourself and making sure you have an internal happiness that isn’t predicated on ridiculous, constantly growing high pursuits.
But like most ambitious people, we forget. We forget about the luxury of entertainment, education, and technology we are born into. We forget about all the achievements we already have accomplished. We forget about all we already have that others in the world or in our past would’ve done anything for.
Instead, we constantly compare ourselves to people and wish we had their lifestyles, bodies, relationships, and possessions.
So make sure to set up a system to keep reminding yourself.
Turn your “I won’t be happy until I get …” mentality into a “I am happy with the humble things I already have in my life. But if I worked hard enough, it would be nice if I could get … If not, no worries.”