For any bodybuilder in contest prep mode, you're inevitably going to have to make some kind of choice between bodybuilding and life, school, family, work, etc. The sport demands a lot of people--even if those demands aren't really necessary. People need (or at least feel they need) to eat specific foods at specific times, they won't go out with friends; I've even heard of people refusing--or being unable to--have sex with their partner because of the lack of sex drive (or in some cases "lack of time").
The point is there are so many easy ways to forget who you are and what you're trying to accomplish. Even more importantly, what is going to be there for you after you're done.
Ask yourself this--if you come in second instead of first, third instead of second, or 12th instead of 11th, where is that going to put you? Is the standard of your achievement--doing the best you could without sacrificing anything else--being met? Are you living to see the next day?
Having a competitive drive is awesome--it separates the amateurs from the pros, and the pros from the other pros. At that level, you need to do what it takes to win, as in any sport. However, when a top level IFBB pro nearly destroys his liver from too many oral steroids, or has a heart attack from dehydration, what is going to happen then? You won--great! Now what happens five or ten years later when you haven't had a plan in place for hormone replacement therapy, which you'll have to be on for the rest of your life?
On the opposite end of the scale, you've got you're 20 something, 160 lb lightweights who are still in school, their girlfriend is sick of prepping their meals, maybe his grades are failing. He's struggling to keep himself from fainting on low calories at 4 weeks out...again, as with the big guy, he wins his class. Did he really win though?
One important thing to realize is that, as you prepare for the contest, you always need something after the light at the end of tunnel. Is there a broken home and family, a grim reality of struggling to get by now, because you wasted your bills on membership fees at the gym, tanning supplies, etc? Or, is there a loving family who've supported you through the whole ordeal, with enough planning on your part to make sure things are back to normal? Don't forget to have something beyond that light at the end of the tunnel. Without those people who make it all worth it, well, it's wouldn't be worth it!
So when you're prepping, don't forget to apologize for the days when you're not all there--you'll be thankful you did.
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