Over countless posts here and on AskTRP, lifting has been suggested as the first and foremost piece of advice to any problem our fellow men encounter, and rightly so! There are many benefits to weightlifting, but first lets analyse what it actually entails.

Lifting weights is a simple activity. You grab something, lift it up, lower it down and repeat. Every now and then you increase the mass of the object you lift to become stronger, to grow your muscles, to look better. But why?

Lifting weights as a complex situation spread across time, is an exemple of a goal driven activity with no clear goal, seemingly oriented to act as a journey to nowhere. Paradox right? Let me explain...

Even with the clearest form of physique or strength level goal you can imagine, the outcome of lifting weights is more or less unpredictable. Sure, you can bench press 150kg, squat 220 and feel like a beast but you rarely stop at that. Some men stop weightlifting at some point either because they become too big, their bodies are too fucked or they cannot progress any further.

These are all important milestones of a journey with no end. You might say: "Hey, but you just wrote that they stop lifting, how is this a milestone and not the end of the journey you dumb fuck?!".

You rarely see satisfied ex-weightlifters, or any physically active specimens whose current progress to a goal has been stopped, unless they switched to another goal they are currently obsessing over.

Lifting is suggested as a seemingly "fix-all" solution because it is a very simple representation of work towards a goal. You lift, you get stronger, you add more weight, until you collapse or stall. What it subconsciously teaches us, is the mindset of a never ending journey. Our minds, as men, are geared towards goals. More specifically, they are geared towards a constant search of goals, which are then achieved and replaced by other goals, in a never ending cycle. Of course, I mean men who are not couch potatoes living in a constant state of search for comfort, but I think we can agree they are not really men, more like avatars of men, waiting to be woken up.

We all asked ourselves a simple question: "What is my purpose here on this earth?" And frankly, it doesn't fucking matter what it is! Look at people such as Elon Musk, Bill gates, Jeff Bezos or any successful guy for that matter. They are rich, can have women, fast cars, more-than-comfortable life and "happiness", yet they often grind 16h days 7 days a week. They search, analyse and accomplish more and more complex goals, very fucking successfully.

Even though they might say in interviews: "My purpose in life is to make the world a better place... Blah, blah, blah". Horseshit! The truth is, none of us have a grandiose purpose. We are guided and motivated by the journey across time, from one goal to another. Our confidence, self-esteem and transitively, social market value are based on how well we progress on this journey. And again, there is no end to it! You have no idea what will happen in a week, month or a year, and therefore you have even less of a clue as to what your "purpose" is.

So brothers, lift! But don't stop at that. Learn the lesson this simple piece of advice is meant to convey: the fact that you as a man are on a never ending journey of goals and achievements. It doesn't matter what they are, how easy or difficult they are or how long a part of the journey will take.

You will never feel fully accomplished with your purpose achieved, no matter how successful you are, and you shouldn't want to feel like that. The journey gives you purpose in itself.