Framing issue

"I am so tired"-athlete
"I have so much work"-law student

I find the power of words to be quite interesting. The two sentences above seem to be badges of honour that people in the two worlds that I live in are quick to share with others. They are also universal statements. They echo around the halls of libraries and pool decks/gyms/tracks everywhere, and they cross international boundaries, translated into the local language. I also realize that they are not confined to my current worlds, but will likely float in the air wherever I go.

There are variations on them, i.e. "I am slammed", "I am knackered", "I am rooted", "I am swamped," but they all convey the same message.

They can be used as a form of gamesmanship, touting the actual amount of work that the speaker has been doing, but they are also passwords, a secret code to enter the club of athlete or student. They are symbolic of a shared sense of suffering.

While I know that being an athlete and a law student can be a hell of a lot of work, I find that these two little sentences to be incredibly grating. I find them to be entirely self-defeating, they are a also a self-fulfilling prophecy and even worse, they are contagious.

The moment one person shares either of these two sentences, the game is on. Both worlds are (largely) populated by driven, competitive people, so you either have to respond in kind, or feel paranoid that you aren't doing enough...once the game has started, you have to explain exactly what it is you are doing and why it is a hell of a lot of work, which creates an equal, or greater response.

Interestingly, some take pride in under shooting their response, saying things like, "I didn't find it that bad," or, for an athlete "I am just doing base training." This under-valuing is a secret form of one-upping. Its underlying message is that I don't have to work as hard as you.

Once those words have left someone's lips, their whole demeanour changes. Their shoulders often slump, their face gets heavy, they seem suddenly weighed down with the magnitude of the work ahead of them. As Seth Godin said "Anxiety is nothing...but repeatedly re-experiencing failure in advance. What a waste."

While I am not immune to the fatigue, or work game and everything can be very overwhelming at times, I like to consider what I do a choice. By saying and repeating how much I have to do and how tired I am, I feel like I am missing out on something because of these states. I am missing out on social activities because of the workload, or going a bit faster or harder in training because of the fatigue.

While this may be true, looking at it as a choice, part of a bigger picture, a plan to reach some other point, or just enjoying the experience for what it, seems to make the task that much more enjoyable and thus, manageable for me.

I have to remind myself this, as exams approach and a low grade anxiety rumbles through the halls and race season is upon us...