I've been going to this gym for three years. I go there just once a week and do it more out of loyalty, cause they supported my sport's club, than any real reason. TBH I've managed to get in the best shape of my life through home Tabata and HIIT workouts.
A few weeks ago the asshole manager confronted me about my mask sitting under my nose. I explained I have a medical condition that actually prohibits me from wearing a mask, but I'm being nice to them in wearing it at all. I also showed him a tweet from the WHO (don't trust them, but it's a good convincer for normies) that masks should not be worn at all when excercising. Thought that would be the end of it.
Some extra info, to better help explain my situation. I suffered a massive heart attack just a week shy of my 30th birthday last year. Had a defect in my right coronary artery I was unaware of. The gym manager is aware of all this. Like I said I've been going to this gym for three years. Luckily I was already in pretty good shape when the HA happened or I would've been dead. I drove myself to and walked into the ER. Cardiologist couldn't understand what was happening to me until I had an angiogram. It's one of the events that helped me to wake up. I didn't notice some of the warning signs beforehand precisely because the goddamned masks made breathing difficult. And it nearly cost me my life. In any other country I would be medically exempt, but Korea worships the muzzle. They literally strap babies into the things. My doc even told me the masks do nothing but help people feel better.
I thought the manager and I understood one another. Well I was wrong. I walk in and the manager is standing in the middle of the gym, mask down, drinking a cup of coffee. So color me very surprised when barely five minutes later, just as I had started my workout, he starts hassling me about my muzzle not sitting tightly on my face. All my previous plans, arguments, strategies etc for dealing with mask Nazis, flew out the window. I think it's just been one too many confrontations in too short a span of time (I just had a fight with my manager yesterday, two of my coworkers complained I wasn't wearing a mask when going to the bathroom). Or maybe it's because he interrupted me while I was in my little world exercising and just relaxing. I lost it.
Told him to go to hell, I'm not putting my health further at risk to assuage his fears. He tried to rebut me that I have to sacrifice for the rest of this year, it will be over soon, the vaxx is coming. Wrong bloody thing to say, these people still haven't figured out that they are never going back to normal if they wait for the government. I realised I'm wasting my time, energy etc. Told him I want a refund. Went into the lockerroom, ripped my mask off. Threw it in the trash. Got dressed, marched to the counter and demanded my money back. He apologised and asked me to understand, I said fuck that, I want my money. Bear in mind I'm doing this all maskless. He finally said ok, opened the counter. He was breathing so hard his shoulders were heaving up and down. Told him that's the hypoxia. If he keeps it up he will develop pneumonia and myocarditis, I hope he'll be ok.
He handed me the money and said see you again soon. I laughed and said, "fuck that! You will never see me again, that I promise you!"
I honestly cannot wait to leave this country. Even one of my normie South African friends told me this week she wants to go back home cause even though things are messed up ], there is a great deal more personalised freedom.
FUCK THE MASKS!
O-Kay... one other exercise you may want to add to your daily regimen is a breathing exercise... in slow through the nose, hold a couple seconds, out slower through your mouth. All while trying to clear your mind and calm your nerves. Do that twenty times.. seriously. Daily at least.
I don’t know you at all, but you seem to be in a pressure-cooker environment of late, virtually the only sane person in a sea of increasingly antagonistic idiots. I am NOT “making excuses for” them, but understanding where they’re coming from may help you to keep things in perspective a little better. These people are likely scared, depressed, nearing their breaking points and now - if where you are is anything like the States- they’re hearing that a super-killer-even-worse-deadly variant is right around the corner. The light they saw at the end of the tunnel for their freedom (from their self-imposed mental prison) is about to be extinguished and they’re reacting to their own terror.
One person cannot be expected to prevail over a culture of weak-minded people while very evil forces are orchestrating this sick game of societal abuse. You don’t need to go to that gym (and it sounds like a blessing in disguise for you in a way) and you don’t need your particular job in SK. Consider the possibility of returning there in the future when sanity prevails again. It’s not what you’d planned to do, but sometimes we don’t understand why we were set on our paths until we reach a destination.
Another “exercise“ (of sorts) that you may benefit from is to sit down and make a list of all the negatives you’re currently contending with in your life. Write down all the good things in another section, but definitely write down all the crap. Sometimes we feel overwhelmed with life and it helps to step back and understand the scope of our challenges. Then move things off the list that aren’t that critical and see what’s left, what you need to deal with and how you might best do so. Moving back to SA for a while might be your best option right now.
This has not been an easy time for most people and for varying reasons. You’re not the only one reaching the end of your frayed rope, but I truly believe we’ll all be able to look back at this time even five years in the future as a remarkable time to have been alive. Try to keep yourself centered and calm. You’ll get through this period of time as we all will, even if “battered and bruised” (figuratively speaking) and emerge stronger for your challenges. Keep the faith.
You might not know me fren, but this
"I don’t know you at all, but you seem to be in a pressure-cooker environment of late, virtually the only sane person in a sea of increasingly antagonistic idiots."
hits the nail squarely on the head. You've summarised exactly how I feel.
I doubt I'll come back to Korea. My reasons for staying in Korea are largely financial and logistical. IE I make much more here than back home and it will be much easier to find a job in my field at the end/beginning of a new year than smack in the middle of it.
That being said both my wife and I are praying and asking for direction on whether or not we should leave earlier. We are waiting for a clear sign, because ultimately I don't want to leave Korea because I'm angry, unhappy or bitter. I want to leave because it is God's will. (I realise my anger doesn't sound very Christian, but I've only started my walk with God a few months back. I am trying). So if God wants me to be the maskless man for a few months more, I'll do that. Equally I'm willing to leave earlier. But I want to be sure. If you don't mind I'd sure appreciate you praying for me for clarity on this as well.
Thank you for your exercises. I'll make sure to especially incorporate the breathing one into my daily routine.
Leave if the safety of you or your wife becomes an issue. If you’re just frustrated that others are not waking up... deep breath, remain calm and carry on. You have little to no control over other people’s actions, only over your own.
One of the things that struck me as notable in your post was your apparent compassion for the gym manager’s health, even while you were angry. We’re human, we get angry at times. Even Jesus, while upending the money lenders’ tables in the temple, was likely a tad peeved. (Not advocating for you to start tossing things around). Your compassion for others is very Christian.
I’m happy to pray for you, friend, have done so and will continue to do so. Clarity, however, will come when you’ve learned how to listen to the good Lord for His guidance... and more often than not will not be the kind of clarity we associate with our current understanding of that term.
https://greatawakening.win/p/12iNndoawK/daily-prayer-thread-51121/
Thank you. I appreciate it greatly.
Lol, I was so angry I didn't even think I was being compassionate, but it's an interesting way of thinking about it.
Adversity, testing of faith and principles. I recall Christ saying he did not come to bring peace. Like I said, still praying through it. I want to leave for the right reasons, not cause it's the easy way out.
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