This is in response to another recent post discussing how you should react to people giving you shit. The post describes a variety of mental hoops you can jump through to feel like the winner.

I’m telling you to not give a shit about who “wins” because in the end it really does not fucking matter.

I had a dude come up to me recently when I was about to start deadlifting. Tall lanky dude, not very threatening, could fold him in half easily.

Anyway he comes up to me with an angry stare saying “I was using that barbell” and grabs hold of it while I’m halfway through warming up with the empty bar. He says “I was benching with that.” And points to the empty bench I grabbed the bar from where there were no bags/bottles marking it as used. There are at least 5 other barbells available within a 20 feet radius of this bench. Dudes around us are looking, curious as to what I’m going to do. Keep in mind I’m pretty pumped at this point and weigh 185lb at 6 feet.

Instead of falling into this dude’s trap and getting angry, I immediately say “okay, my bad bro,” (not in a bitch way, kinda just a dismissal) go get another barbell, and resume my warmup in all of 10 seconds like nothing happened, because to me, it was like nothing happened at all.

The dude was clearly on a petty ego trip. I held frame and didn’t let that petty shit interrupt me. He wanted to “win” but in reality he made himself look like a fool. I didn’t even take him seriously and that’s the only way to handle these things. People like this are not to be taken seriously. I see this dude from time to time in the gym now and he’s still angrily sulking around. What kind of life do you think this guy lives? What do you think others think of him?

If you let yourself get angry about such things it shows you haven’t experienced much and really don’t have priorities. Men who have climbed mountains have no problem climbing hills. Keep your priorities in check and don’t let petty shit distract you. If you do, you’ll be miserable. Just like this guy.

When you find yourself in situations like this, just do what you can to end the situation as quickly and efficiently as possible for you. Doesn’t matter who “wins,” just don’t waste your time. Sure, I had to go grab another barbell, but is that really such a big deal?

In the end, by trying to “win” all the time and giving way too many fucks, you waste a lot of time and effort on your ego.

To hell with your ego.

TL;DR Quit giving a fuck.