Many people are shy about going to gyms, and I was like that once myself. Quite unexpectedly, I found that the experience of being ill and weak actually increased my confidence at the gym. Once my health had deteriorated to a certain point, I imagined the other guys (and girls) looking at me, and thinking "He must have an injury", rather than "Bro, is that all you can lift?".

Earlier this year this went so far that I sometimes even still went to the gym when I had to take a walking stick in with me, because I couldn't get up and down from the floor unassisted. And I was doing almost nothing, relatively speaking, compared to the workouts I used to do. Like one set of 10 reps of just a bar with no weights on it.

But at least I was still going. I decided that my original/natural inclination to only work out when I was well enough to do what I considered a proper/decent/hard enough workout was a bad idea. And was slowing my recovery. And that I should just go — if I was physically able to get in a car and drive there and get from the car to the inside of the gym, then I should go to the gym. And it would still be worth going.

Now that my health is somewhat improved from then, I find that I really don't care anymore what anyone else thinks about me when I'm there. So in a strange way, being less functional than I'd ever been while at the gym made me feel more confident about going to the gym.