The other night, I was online looking around for inspiration for Pretty Darn Fit’s Facebook page in an effort to carry out the promise I made to myself on curating content for it religiously. If you’re familiar with Pinterest, you would know that it’s one of the biggest social media platforms that houses many beautiful images and bits of useful information regardless of what keyword you type in. And because we now live in a world wherein every tap and click determines what sort of content is fed to you, I was (not surprisingly) welcomed by posts that went, “7 Moves for a Flatter Stomach”, “How to Burn 1,000 Calories” and (the one that got my eyes going O.o) “How to Look Stylish at the Gym”.
I scanned the screen moving past the titles and fixing my eyes on the the images of women with slim waists and thighs, legs that go on for days and ripped abs. I caught myself thinking, “Damn. I workout regularly and watch what I eat most of the time. I’ve done so for years! How come I don’t look like her?!” With every photo that turned up each time I scrolled down, I felt a little greener with envy. A part of me wanted to look just like them until I asked myself, “Why?” I shut my laptop and spent a whole friggin’ hour making my salad while scanning my thoughts for an answer.
The term fitspiration gets thrown around a lot these days. There are over 5.5 million photos with this hashtag on Instagram alone, not counting similar variations of it such as #fitspirational, #fitspirations, #fitspirationig, etc. This got me wondering, are the photos we see really FITspirational? Do they truly inspire us to be better versions of ourselves, or do they make us want to be someone else?
I felt so much better when I recalled how in the past week, I have been seeing more curvy women in my yoga classes. There has always been a misconception that yoga is only for the “slim” and flexible. And each time I see someone on the heavy side, male or female of any age bracket, I internally whip out my pompoms and cheer them on. I also send a quiet thank you at “Namaste” for kicking that misconception right at the butt.
It was only last Monday when I first met Mandy (not her real name). A beautiful, curvy woman who has just given birth. She practiced yoga for a short while before she bore a child. That evening, she stepped on the mat again for the first time. For someone who has not practiced for a year or so, I was amazed by her body awareness, flexibility and breath. The fact that she decided to go back to yoga after a long hiatus was a huge plus too because if you haven’t experienced it, getting back on track after you’ve fallen out is so much harder than staying on it.
I, for one, do not consider myself flexible considering the number of years I’ve been doing yoga. And right there was a woman who looked nothing like those on Pinterest, but was truly inspiring. Am I saying the Pinterest images are not something we should look at for motivation? Of course not, each of those women are beautiful and have obviously worked hard to attain their bodies but that’s exactly why we shouldn’t get stuck on looking at photos–it’s their body, not yours. Yours will be just as beautiful, although it may look different.
With that, I remembered the reason why I stopped weighing myself years ago. Because I am not my weight. I’m not even my dress size. No number can determine your fitness level, more so who you are as an individual. We have to start seeing things at a level past what is superficial.
Rather than working to bring that number on the scale down, why not work hard to bring the amount of weights you lift up. Instead of getting abs as a goal, why not change it to being able to hold your plank? There are many ways to push yourself to be better–strength, flexibility, speed, endurance and agility are a few.
And instead of wanting to look like someone–anyone, why not work on wanting to look at yourself in the mirror each morning, smile and say “Thanks, gorgeous!” instead? 😉
I’m not perfect. I admit to falling through the cracks every now and then. I guess I wrote this blog post also as a reminder to myself. Perhaps, it’s something I can read when I catch myself falling in a slump. And to the beautiful people surrounding me who have completely flipped their lifestyles for the better, those who fell out and got back up (stronger than ever), and those who choose to be more compassionate when it comes to what they eat (and do) and who choose to care for themselves in order to help others–thank you. I realized you guys are my true #fitspirations.
Do it not for anything but compassion towards yourself so that you may extend the same towards others. <3
Looking for more inspiration? Check these links out:
Essena the former Instagram Model
If anyone has inspired you lately, either send me a link to post or let me know about his/her story in the comments.
Featured image credit: Raissa Gatus
This is such a beautiful post, Niiki, that holds a lot of truth in it. Thank you for posting this, as it is needed to be out there in the world. As much as I avoid being affected by envy with these genetically gifted individuals with small waists and long legs, I know in truth that even if I do so, I will never look the same (being a different body build, and having a gene wherein we easily gain weight much to my dismay).
This is also my aim for parenthood and motherhood and just simply, life, in my instagram and new blog.
Thank you, Sam! I gain weight easily too. I think it’s great that you decided to apply the things you learned from the process of learning to love and accept yourself. I’ll check out your new blog! <3