by: Tyler Quinn
Ahhh, Thanksgiving break. Seeing college kids come home for the holidays gets me thinking about my freshman year of college – specifically, the entry-level Psychology class. You know, the Psych 101 that we all had to take.
I remember learning about Subjective Well Being (SWB). It’s a simple theory that helps people discern the ways that they experience the quality of their life. At the heart of SWB is the idea that life satisfaction does not actually increase with economic prosperity. In sum, money really can’t buy happiness.
I was particularly intrigued to learn that some nations actually opt to use SWB instead of GDP as their primary measurement of societal success. Imagine that: prioritizing emotional happiness and contentment over bank accounts and acquiring things.
In many ways, this is what we’re about at Alchemy – a place where feeling alive is actually more important to us than the physiological changes we experience as a result of our exercise. Indeed our entire brand prioritizes how people experience life over how people can improve their fitness. It’s a counter intuitive approach given our line of work but it’s intentional and sustainable and actually leads people to train harder and have healthier relationships with their workouts and diets. Shifting a perspective can make all the difference in the world even if our actions stay the same.
Ok, one second, let me climb down from my soap box… there we go.
So look, we’re not doing a Black Friday sale. It’s not because lining up the night before in the frigid cold and trampling another human being for an opportunity at a steeply discounted Roomba 980 with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi technologies doesn’t excite me, it’s just that, I want a shift in perspective this year. And as a team we want to support that shift for our entire community of Alchemists.
We think it makes all the sense in the world that we, as a company, put our money where our mouth is and tell you to keep your money in your pocket. On Black Friday, of all days, come in, work out like a maniac, release endorphins, help somebody to your right or left keep their drive to press on during the last 2 minutes and relish the Subjective Well Being approach over the temptation to correlate things and retail therapy with feeling good.
Instead, feel good because you’re treating your body like a temple. Feel good because you’re a part of a community that supports and loves you. Feel good knowing that incomes increasing to millions of dollars a year don’t have much impact at all on one’s Subjective Well Being (true fact) and that for many, the only thing keeping them from happiness and contentment is perspective and psychology.
This Black Friday, give thanks. You might find that it’s enough.
(Said Roomba 980 can be delivered to Alchemy Northeast for Tyler Quinn in case anybody wants to give more than thanks.)
Happy Holidays, Alchemists!
Tyler Quinn is a Coach and founder of Alchemy and Union Fitness. He’s also the mastermind behind all Alchemy programming. In his spare he enjoys reading, gun-slinging, jiu-jitsu, and playing with his Golden Retriever puppy, Fletcher.
