Today my day started at 5:30 am, I got up and had my usual 1 cup of oats, 1 cup of egg whites and a whole egg. Scrambled it all up and shoved it down my throat, washing it down with a strong black coffee.
I prepacked my car the night before with all the signage, the 'lift it' singlets and shirts, a big bowl of snacks and a lot of water, in anticipation of a very hot day. Only 2 days before the markets were on I was informed I had been booked in and a spot allocated for me, which is good news but with stock levels low and being given short notice to get everything ready all I could do was give it a go!
I was set up and ready to go, people were everywhere even though a lot of stall holders were still away due to the holiday period, and the demographic at these certain markets were older people hitting up the local fruit vendors and trying to barter a bargain at bric'a'brac stalls. My stall had no shade and to my luck once it hit 8 am the sun was over the only spot in the car park where the shade sails didn't cover and it beaming down right on me! Lets just say lucky I was wearing a black shirt otherwise I would be frightening people walking past by the copious amounts of sweat coming out of me. All in all I had a good time, a few friends came by and I sold a bit of stock, but the highlight of my morning there occurred around 9:30 am.
While I was texting on my phone trying to convince someone to bring me a coffee an elderly gentleman walked up to the tables, using his walking stick as a pointer he placed it on a shirt directly on the logo and said "what does 'Lift it' mean" I initially thought to myself that this wasn't going to go well as he won't know what i'm going on about....so I went on to tell him that 'Lift it' refers to lifting weights, and the gym culture that is present these days is quite large and it's a lifestyle etc etc... and halfway through he appeared somewhat distracted and was looking back and forth and partially listening. So I paused and just sort of smiled at him with a stupid grin on my face. "I'll tell you about lifting" he said. Once he engaged eye contact with me after about 10 seconds of silence, he went on to tell me about a trip up to the Gulf where his 4wd got stuck in the mud and he couldn't use a jack as it would just sink into the mud, so he told his wife he was going to lift the back end out and to drive on and keeping giving it some till she was out, all this happened while she was yelling at him telling him he is to old for that now......but he said in the end he got it out, was covered in mud and it shut his wife up. I'm not sure how long ago this took place but I thought good on him! I told him that's pretty impressive but he immediately cut me off, paused, looked around again then resumed speaking telling me he was lifting all his life and was a national weight lifter, power lifter and how important it was for him and he emphasized how he lifted with correct technique for all those years and never blew out his back and why he is still able to walk around and be physically active these days considering how old he was. I was just nodding and smiling the whole time knowing I wouldn't get a word in and just to let him keep going, he wrapped it up by saying "I can't lift anymore, but when I could, boy could I lift." Again he looked around paced a few steps to the left, turned back around, gave me a smile and he was gone.
All this went down while he was wearing jeans, a long sleeve black shirt and a thick black vest while being in direct sunlight in 35 degree Celsius weather and merrily swinging and pointing his walking stick throughout the conversation.
At the time I didn't think to much of it, but after a while of just sitting there thinking, I realized this guy spent a large part of his life doing something he enjoyed, and now even though unable to do it he was still imparting his joy and knowledge and still wanting to express how it impacted his life, to think that there would have nearly been a 50 year age difference we were still able to relate to something on the same level which is pretty amazing to me.
So just remember if you're doing something you enjoy keep doing it, don't let others tell you otherwise and you never know what impact it might have on someone down the track. :)
I prepacked my car the night before with all the signage, the 'lift it' singlets and shirts, a big bowl of snacks and a lot of water, in anticipation of a very hot day. Only 2 days before the markets were on I was informed I had been booked in and a spot allocated for me, which is good news but with stock levels low and being given short notice to get everything ready all I could do was give it a go!
I was set up and ready to go, people were everywhere even though a lot of stall holders were still away due to the holiday period, and the demographic at these certain markets were older people hitting up the local fruit vendors and trying to barter a bargain at bric'a'brac stalls. My stall had no shade and to my luck once it hit 8 am the sun was over the only spot in the car park where the shade sails didn't cover and it beaming down right on me! Lets just say lucky I was wearing a black shirt otherwise I would be frightening people walking past by the copious amounts of sweat coming out of me. All in all I had a good time, a few friends came by and I sold a bit of stock, but the highlight of my morning there occurred around 9:30 am.
While I was texting on my phone trying to convince someone to bring me a coffee an elderly gentleman walked up to the tables, using his walking stick as a pointer he placed it on a shirt directly on the logo and said "what does 'Lift it' mean" I initially thought to myself that this wasn't going to go well as he won't know what i'm going on about....so I went on to tell him that 'Lift it' refers to lifting weights, and the gym culture that is present these days is quite large and it's a lifestyle etc etc... and halfway through he appeared somewhat distracted and was looking back and forth and partially listening. So I paused and just sort of smiled at him with a stupid grin on my face. "I'll tell you about lifting" he said. Once he engaged eye contact with me after about 10 seconds of silence, he went on to tell me about a trip up to the Gulf where his 4wd got stuck in the mud and he couldn't use a jack as it would just sink into the mud, so he told his wife he was going to lift the back end out and to drive on and keeping giving it some till she was out, all this happened while she was yelling at him telling him he is to old for that now......but he said in the end he got it out, was covered in mud and it shut his wife up. I'm not sure how long ago this took place but I thought good on him! I told him that's pretty impressive but he immediately cut me off, paused, looked around again then resumed speaking telling me he was lifting all his life and was a national weight lifter, power lifter and how important it was for him and he emphasized how he lifted with correct technique for all those years and never blew out his back and why he is still able to walk around and be physically active these days considering how old he was. I was just nodding and smiling the whole time knowing I wouldn't get a word in and just to let him keep going, he wrapped it up by saying "I can't lift anymore, but when I could, boy could I lift." Again he looked around paced a few steps to the left, turned back around, gave me a smile and he was gone.
All this went down while he was wearing jeans, a long sleeve black shirt and a thick black vest while being in direct sunlight in 35 degree Celsius weather and merrily swinging and pointing his walking stick throughout the conversation.
At the time I didn't think to much of it, but after a while of just sitting there thinking, I realized this guy spent a large part of his life doing something he enjoyed, and now even though unable to do it he was still imparting his joy and knowledge and still wanting to express how it impacted his life, to think that there would have nearly been a 50 year age difference we were still able to relate to something on the same level which is pretty amazing to me.
So just remember if you're doing something you enjoy keep doing it, don't let others tell you otherwise and you never know what impact it might have on someone down the track. :)
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