Just when you get fit, you decide to up the ante and become even fitter because there are levels to this thing and you want to complete all of them. More reps, more sets, more laps, more miles—when you can lift this weight, you think, “Wait, what about that one?” You lift them all. Ha! Jokes. But you try, and that is what matters most because the effort is its own reward. After shedding one kilogram, two seems better. No—three and then ten. Why not twenty?
The same goes for personal goals: a clean and organised room becomes a redecorated house; commitment to fighting the algorithm is transmuted into a passion for all things analogue and manual, regardless of the supposed inconvenience; the pursuit and maintenance of rest and recovery periods translates to better sleep and growth; a monitored diet becomes a seemingly effortless lifestyle; and, a carefully tended to-do list results in a daily measuring stick for completed tasks and ways to improve.
And, then, crash-bang!
Everything comes tumbling down.
Maybe an injury, maybe winter and its doldrums—something materialises to keep you out of the gym, off the road, and out of sync with the fitness goals you were chasing. Clutter accumulates in a once tidy home; the digital doom-scrolling begins again; deep rest, the kind that allows you to catch your breath, becomes elusive; every day becomes a cheat day; and the list of tasks, once manageable, seems unwieldy.
Motivations (which help to create and build) and distractions (which only serve to delay and destroy) are endless, both criss-crossing each other in a never-ending and unpredictable pattern of making, undoing, and remaking, always toying with one’s so-called “final form”, the most complete version of an individual.
But there is no final form.
Maybe in anime, but certainly not in the real world where change remains the only constant and balance is a goal pursued between some of the most challenging extremes.
In this atmosphere of uncertainty and constant disruption, the need to embrace change is necessary. The “final form”, thus, is always a project in progress, one that needs to be pursued with zeal despite knowing its elusiveness.
After all, conventional wisdom does state that the thrill lies in the chase.
Rémy Ngamije is an award-winning Rwandan-born Namibian author, editor, publisher, photographer, literary educator, and entrepreneur. He is the founder of The Forge.