I CAME TO THE GYM BUT I WENT SOMEWHERE ELSE

What gym do you go to? Add some voltage to the question and answer it in the metaphysical sense. I don't care about the name as we've already butchered our strained lexicon in search for the perfect descriptor whose name provides vicarious feelings of moving one step closer to our ultimate goal of belongingness. Yes, this is a jibe at the superfluous and overextended effort in making a name for ourselves through the sole use of a name. Regardless of the name it still smells the same as Shakespeare pointed out more eloquently. I say go nameless until an identity names itself on its own merit but this isn't what I've come to say today. Whether you go to a gym or not the question still stands: Where do you go? In attempting to formulate an answer consider the famous words of our long time deceased president John F. Kennedy, "Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country." I say "Ask not what your gym can do for you but what you can do for yourself." Does the perfect place to train exist? Is it a figment of your imagination? Yes to both. Although we may occupy the same place at the same time while performing the same movements with similar gear we exist in a world of our own making, affected by different forces and driven for different reasons. Our attention should shift from the rusty bars and inhospitable climates to the architecture of our own universe. The actual location is where worlds collide, where parallel universes exist in tandem and implode in unison. A shift of attention is in order. The competitive nature of the activity is distracting and confines us to solitary confinement, chasing the data, and reacting with gross disappointment or irrational exuberance. The truth is that it if you've taken the bait and abandoned your own world then you invariably finish empty hearted. Besides a number that will invariably fall what do you have to show for your toils? Whether we go to a track, a globo gym, or the premier training facility we should be going to the same place every time, immune to the nuances and distractions but steadfast in our devotion to ourselves. Take an active role as an architect in creating the perfect venue inside the most prolific of all venues. If you can't answer the posed question then you've probably been remiss in putting your mind into what you are doing. Yea, you go to XYZ gym but what gym do you really go to? Is your world hostile or demilitarized? Rolling green pastures or inhospitable fields of burning lava? How much are you really getting out of going to the gym, if that's where you really go?