I kept in fairly good shape throughout my adult life. Gym time was my time. I took it seriously, but not that seriously. I would go and workout, but it would take away from family time. I ate whatever and occasionally drank. Being stationed in Mississippi forced me to get up early.... who wants to run and workout after work and dealing with the deep south heat and humidity all day. I'll answer that-no one. I got up early (it was a struggle at first, but I was able to get into a rhythm). I committed myself to go every day. Since I was up early, I stopped drinking and clean up my diet a bit. The results were staggering. I was able to do more and recover better. (Who would have thought living a clean life led to a feeling better?)
Moving to Mass I kept the same routine. Instead of being surrounded by folks who did not work out or only did it occasionally I was surrounded by folks who were just as dedicated as me. Nothing like walking into work and instead of saying morning or hello it was, "did you work out this morning?" Fitness became the center point of conversation. One of the guys said he worked out to make the voices go away. That statement threw me off. As a guy who tracked workouts and inputting nutrition into an app this blew me away.
Fast forward a few years it makes sense now. When you get into a routine and center your entire day around your goals the inevitable shadow of doubt creeps in-that feeling of not being good enough starts to cloud your judgement. Due to that-the sense of accomplishment of going to the gym and pushing yourself to feel accomplished becomes more and more important. My workouts now do make those "voices" go away. When you see highly successful folks the pressure to keep up is real. It is a good kind of stress as the saying goes, "show me your friend's and I'll show you your future" The gym served as a sanctuary to indeed make the voices go away.