I like to write about connections. Recently, I’ve been fascinated by quantum physics because of an interesting parallel to a fitness conundrum that I often think about. When it comes to health which is more relevant, systemic problems or personal accountability? Is it our systems and society that cause poor health, or is it bad choices on the part of individuals?
First the physics. The theory of quantum entanglement says that two particles, separated by great distance, can nonetheless instantaneously influence each other’s behavior. I won’t describe it more than that because I’ll butcher the science. The point though, is that in order to answer certain questions physicists have had to open up to the idea that our perceptions may not accurately reflect reality. It defies our common experience to suggest that two particles, separated by 1.3 kilometers (as in one experiment) would affect each other. Even Einstein hated the idea and called it “spooky.” Nonetheless, it appears to be true.
Fitness has it’s own entanglement. Some of us seem to believe that health is a societal problem to be dealt with on a societal level. Others believe it’s all about individual choice. Which is it? The answer is that both are relevant simultaneously.
As a personal trainer, I often am confronted with a person who has not met a goal they had for themselves during that week. Maybe they skipped the gym or ate something they are trying to give up. Maybe they even show up to my session with a muffin in a bag, grease spot and all, and slowly, shamefully, hand it to me to dispose of. In those moments personal accountability is front and center. There is only the reality that certain choices lead to certain outcomes. They don’t make you a bad person, but they can only pan out one way, and we all know it.
On the other hand as a personal trainer I have seen this kind of behavior so many times, from so many different people, that I must ask myself why? What makes it so hard to do what we all understand we need to do? I believe that there are systemic reasons for this. We’re encouraged by the society we live in to consume. We’re encouraged to overwork. We’re encouraged to eat fast, easy, and very tasty food. We’re encouraged to seek pleasure over health. It would be a mistake to ignore that reality.
So there you have it, personal accountability and systemic culpability existing together in spite of their fundamentally opposite nature. Junk food is cheap, easy to get, advertised everywhere and oh so rewarding. On the other hand, nobody is forced to buy junk food. These kind of contradictory realities don’t sit well with the human mind. We don’t like it, and so we tend to dismiss it. It’s either your own fault for buying it, or you are a victim of the predatory system. Especially in today’s highly polarized times, we should take a page from quantum physics. We should open our minds to the idea that perhaps our perception doesn’t do justice to the whole reality. Two particles, separated by great distance, can act on each other. Two models of accountability, personal and societal, can exist at the same time. We can and should address both.