Marvelous March
March 3rd marks:
- I Want You to be Happy Day
- If Pets Had Thumbs Day
- National Anthem Day
- Peach Blossom Day
- Florida is admitted as the 27th U.S. state in 1845
- NACA, the predecessor of NASA, is founded in 1915
- TIME magazine is published for the first time in 1923
- The Star Spangled Banner becomes the National Anthem in 1931
- Oil is discovered in Saudi Arabia in 1938
The birthday of:
- 1847- Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone
- 1962- Jackie Joyner-Kersee, American Olympic athlete
Ok, on to tribes...
The health and nutrition world is full of tribes: groups, dogmas or ideologies that connect a population of people all sharing a common belief or value system. Veganism is a tribe. So is Paleo, Crossfit, low carb, running and countless others. Tribes join together to commune, support and further their purpose and offer safe haven to lost souls and likeminded folks. These clans can exist over time and space and often help define their members and guide their lives in both the present and future. Tribes are an integral part of human existence. It's built into our DNA to search out common folks with the same purpose. They can even replace one's closest relatives and become family. Tribes/clans/groups are a big part of life.
The health and nutrition world is a maze of tribes. Sirens from each call out over the Internet, television, magazines and from friends' mouths, inviting you in to join people just like you. Lose weight, get in shape, feel better and on and on. Stop eating meat, don't eat carbs, commit to running, lift heavy weights and you'll be just like us! Look how great we feel and how much better our life is now that we went ______!!
Throughout our entire lives we find tribes. Whether it's the kids who like certain cartoons or video games, the jocks or theater folks in school or other parents who let their kids get dirty and run around barefoot, we are constantly joining tribes.
It's good to join tribes. They give us so much benefit. We all need to join tribes. It's probably a good thing for all of us to belong to a tribe or two throughout our life and particularly our health and fitness journey.
We just need to know when it's time to move on.
Tribes are another paradox. Incredibly useful and beneficial but terribly sheltering and limiting, often detrimental. We need tribes to be human but we need to learn when they're no longer needed. Tribes can open minds, teach, nurture, grow and support its members. They also have a way of keeping those same minds closed to other ways of life, particularly those that don't jive with the ideology, belief system, philosophy or dogma of the tribe. Tribes, although very nurturing at the beginning, usually end up being hindering in the end.
I was a member of the "Paleo" tribe for a few years and it taught me quite a bit. Over the last year or so I've come to realize its usefulness is waning and its constraints are problematic. I do not regret "tribing" with other Primal/Paleo/Ancestral peoples. It was extremely beneficial and I am better off having belonged there for a while. I wouldn't and couldn't be where I am today without the lessons learned and growth I received from my time in Paleo land. The same goes for any and every other tribe I've joined in health and fitness, whether it was for a week or for several years. They all had something to offer but only until I was ready for more.
Find a tribe. Learn from it. Love it. Support it. Grow with it. Then leave it. Walk alone for a while. Then, if you want, find another tribe and see what that one can offer.
If you always walk alone you'll find your way, although you're likely to take a few wrong turns and get lost along the way. Joining tribes and using their insight isn't a guarantee of the perfect route but is a great way to help guide your own unique journey and meet lots of fascinating people and ideas along the way.
Thanks for reading, have a great day!
I'm a health and fitness practitioner (specializing in personal training and Functional Diagnostic Nutrition) with several years education and experience and a passion for helping people maximize health and well being. I focus on natural living as a resetting mechanism to recapture vibrant and natural health. By following simple and naturally based eating, moving, resting, environmental and social practices we can find the healthiest state our bodies are capable of.
