Love who you are, Love what you see: A Fitness Mantra


Aug 10, 2023

 by Cassandra Burres
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From personal experience, through clients, and most importantly myself, the biggest motivator for taking that first step into starting a fitness journey is appearance. This is perfectly normal, self-improvement, self-care, self-love, all are crucial for mental health and wellness. However, the most important aspect should be your health overall. Fitness helps fight disease, physical pain, cardiovascular, etc. You know this. What I would like to discuss at this very moment is the slippery nose-dive into the obsession of appearance and flaws, especially the further you get into your fitness journey, consequently causing you to forget your health or even impair it. To put it to term, body dysmorphia.

Body dysmorphia is exactly as described aloft. Pure obsession over flaws to the point of constantly criticizing yourself, looking in the mirror or comparing yourself to others. Yes, it is true we can always be better, but not to the point of degrading. There is nothing wrong with you. Things can be improved upon but accept yourself as you are. Love who you are, love what you see.

The easiest way to accept this premise is to dismantle the idea of perfection. It is simply nonexistent, and more importantly subjective. The most outlandish example I have is the argument that 2+2=5 as controversially discussed in George Orwell’s “Nineteen Eighty-Four” novel. To give a loose synopsis, based on the persuasion of one person a group of people could be led to believe and relay that a mathematically proven equation can be broken down to subjectivity. Even something completely faultless (literal synonym of perfection) is defenseless from public opinion. This digression simply means you can take control of how you are perceived no matter what anyone says, social media says, your mother says, your friend, your doctor, your trainer, your partner, you are who you are, and you cannot be anyone else. Love who you are, love what you see.

 

Rerouting to fitness here are a few ways to keep healthy mental concentration on your body:

  • Focus on strengthening a body part rather than making it look a certain way.
  • Improve endurance, you can always go further, you can always breathe better.
  • Work on stability and body control, if you move better, you’ll feel better.
  • Stick to a program for a specific amount of time.
  • Change focuses, you won’t get bored, and every body part gets their time.
  • Celebrate small victories, even if you go from one to two push-ups in a span of a year, you’re still ahead of where you were last year.
  • Be patient. When you work and stay consistent it will come. Not always when you want, but it will come.
  • Keep positive people around you, we are all products of our environment.
  • Everyday take time to love who you are, and love what you see.