Malechallengemedia's Blog

I’m 63 and have worked in Physical and Outdoor Education since I was 15.  I have tried to help children and adults find ways to exercise, eat well, and stay healthy—today I am gratified that so many people are embracing a healthy lifestyle.

Great achievements … now to the next level. The more I worked with young men through the decades, the more I have appreciated the importance of emotional fitness; in fact I now believe it is crucial to our personal development and happiness—as well as being a key factor in ending violence–and of course, saving the planet.

To demonstrate that physical fitness alone is not enough to guarantee happiness or underpin a creative and productive life; I’ve previously used the poor behaviours of Australian sports icons such as Ben Cousin, Wayne Carey, Shane Warne, Greg Bird (sorry guys) and other players.

These sportsmen had much in common. They were very fit, made lots of money, were good looking, were sought after by women; BUT could not control their poor behaviour against women, or other people. Some struggled with alcohol or drug taking (a form of violence against the self), and some were blatantly misogynist. Then add Tiger Woods.

It was the emotional and psychological fitness that was missing! BUT – It is not just sportsmen that ruin their lives in this way. I’ve also talked about US ex-president Bill Clinton who also appeared to ‘have it all’ – the money, the good looks, the good health, charisma, status and a great potential to bring about peace in many parts of the world.

Addiction to women was his undoing (like popular president of the 60′s – JFK) and Clinton’s addiction almost guaranteed that an extreme right wing president would be elected—George Bush, whose ‘war on terror,’ born from the old dominator male mindset, caused the loss of many lives and failed to address the root causes of terrorism. (Note the limited success of a ‘war’ on anything—poverty, drugs, pollution and so on – it is a ‘dominator’ approach.)

In future articles we will talk more about how to build emotional and psychological fitness and courage. I believe this is the next evolutionary step for males—an enormous step which will enable humans to deal with massive challenges of our times. I say this without blame because when I was a less conscious man, I made or was capable of making all the mistakes made by the men I’ve mentioned above.

Here’s the thing – many of these men could become unstoppable leaders when they build their emotional fitness and courage—with a long course in emotional fitness they would truly be ‘fit to lead.’