What does fitness mean to you? You hear it in magazines, television, social media, and many other platforms reminding you that a healthy lifestyle is achievable through a balanced diet and exercise routine. You’ll be given a chart, a scale, a measurement ruler, and are asked to determine your weight based on these measurements. However, what we think of ‘weight’ as being how big or small you are, doesn’t consider the time and dedication you put in for your well-being. Your personal successes and struggles are not weighed in the same way.
Let’s weigh in the successes and struggles of your fitness goals and hopefully you’ll find a balanced and healthy lifestyle. Here are the underlying ways fitness can teach you about yourself…
You’re Capable of Anything… and Not Just Squatting
My freshman year of college was a complete 360 from what life was like in high school. New friends, living area, and routines made finding the time to work out or play sports to be an inconsistent venture. I didn’t feel like I was going to feel like myself again unless I tried something different, new and improved. I then decided to train for a 10-mile and 20 obstacles race called the “Tough Mudder” over the summer.
Let me tell you…it was one of the best decisions of my life and one of the most difficult! I became more aware of the abilities I had that go further than my abilities to do an obstacle race. I went back to my passion of writing, changed my major to one I thrived at, and found supportive friends along the way. Fitness has taught me patience and the confidence to do the things I love. Your improvements in fitness will transcend in your everyday life and you will gain more confidence. Ladies, you’ll see it for yourself!
You’re a Force to be Reckoned With
My life revolved around playing sports from the age of five until the end of high school. I worked countless hours practicing during the week and playing games on weekends to know optimal fitness doesn’t exist… you said what now? That’s right ladies, you’ll never be fully satisfied with where your current fitness level is at this moment. New challenges, successes, and personal struggles will continuously form along your individual journeys. Once you immerse yourself into reaching new fitness goals and getting into the routine of challenging and pushing yourself to do your best, you’ll never want the grind to stop.
Your MENTALity is Everything
YOU are important and your well-being should always come first (I can’t emphasize this enough)! I knew the journey to complete a “Tough Mudder” would contain a lot of trial and error, anywhere from the food I would eat to the exercises I wanted to work with each day. Decisions needed to be made, but I also wanted to enjoy every moment of it without feeling stressed out about my next move. Taking the time for yourself to recharge and not only focus on eating healthy and over exercising 100% of the time is saving you from having mixed feelings about doing fitness. So, take the time to relax because you deserve the mental break!
Whether you’re new to fitness or wish to challenge yourself, the trade-off is opportunities you’ll see in yourself and are far more beneficial than what you’ll see from a scale reading. So, go challenge yourself and see what you can accomplish through fitness!