Check out this photo. All the athletes in it are at the top of their game.
Are they all a size 6?
Are they all completely ripped?
Do they all look like fitness models?
The answer, in most cases, is no. So why are we so darned hard on ourselves about how we look??
You see, something we often forget is that HEALTH doesn’t have to look like a model. VITALITY isn’t only for people fitting into skinny jeans. ENERGY doesn’t have to mean you could be on the cover of a magazine. Kicking your own fitness and health goals can be done at whatever size you are RIGHT NOW.
Even cover models don’t look like cover models! They spend weeks preparing for that cover; they dehydrate themselves, put on the fake tan, they have professional hair, makeup and lighting and then they look that way for about 30 mins, with a professional photographer making sure the photo shows their best angle. Then – they go back to being a bit more normal themselves!
What is your body type? There are people who are naturally slender and won’t ever look full-figured – and indeed, this might bother them just as much as it bothers someone else that they’ll always be curvier. We always want what we haven’t got; the secret to happiness is finding a way to be content with what you DO have. Play the cards you’re dealt. You’ve got NO OTHER CHOICE.
That’s not to say you shouldn’t strive to be a better version of yourself, to kick your own personal health and fitness goals – go for it! But it IS to say: stop comparing yourself to others!
We live in an incredibly image-driven world, more so now than at any other time in history. When repeated studies show that reading magazines makes women feel bad about themselves, why do they keep doing it? (I’d be willing to bet men aren’t far behind now, with the rise of men’s fitness and health publications.) If your Instagram feed is full of fitspo, do you feel inspired, or like you’re not able to keep up? More and more social media stars have come out and been honest about how many shots it takes to get that perfect photo. It’s all smoke and mirrors and magic! You can bet your bottom dollar that if you had a personal hair stylist and makeup artist on hand, you would look that awesome every day too, so stop beating yourself up about being ‘normal’!
Could you find some real-life inspiration that isn’t on a screen?
Maybe it’s the mum with three kids who finds the time to hit the gym every second day?
Maybe it’s the highly stressed executive who goes to the gym every lunch hour and encourages his staff to do the same?
Maybe it’s the 80 year old lady who attends aerobics at your local gym?
Maybe it’s the previously unfit friend who climbed a mountain, ran a marathon, did Tough Mudder?
