Recently I have been contemplating my career in fitness- why I’m in this field and what I want out of it. For years the pictures of clean foods and intense workouts that fill the pages of fitness magazines has given me the chills! I just love it and it never gets old. I love to sweat, I love to feel strong, but most importantly, I love to encourage. I just comes natural to me. It reminds me of the Bible verse in Romans “If you are an encourager, then encourage.” I’m blessed to have a career where I can do just that! I have come to learn that one phrase of encouragement can completely change someone’s life. I see this day in and day out- a client comes to be completely bogged down “I’m just not strong”, “ There’s no way I can run that ½ mile” Well, as soon as I tell them they CAN and show them I believe in them, the smiles come (always) and their whole mindset is changed . I love it! But, sadly I have also learned, negative words, images, messages and thoughts can do the same, but for the worse. That brings me to my purpose in writing this piece…I deal with women on a daily basis who come to me and “want to be or look like someone else” They think I can magically shape them into who they want to look like. Ya know the whole no thigh gap type of thing, or what celebs size they want me to fit them into. This my ladies this is the medias form of encouragement, and just like the positive reinforcement there is a negatively vicious message that is being sent to women in almost everything I see- through movies, music, TV commercials, gossip magazine and more. You want to know what the messages the media are saying to us? “YOU ARENT GOOD ENOUGH AS YOU ARE SO LOOK LIKE THIS” and guess what? We are falling for it. See, what’s perfect to them isn’t perfect at all, it’s actually a big lie filled with fad diets, Photoshop and secret lives of depression and anorexia to be honest. Then in dawned on me, I’m placed in this industry to help undo what is placed in women’s minds as to what beautiful really is. Because it’s definitely not what they say it is. We are human, we are women, not matter how in shape we are we have cellulite or stretch marks or that “stubborn fat in the bottom of our tummy’s” and guess what?!! THAT’S OK!!! The moment I realized this for myself, I saw my body at each stage with such love. I loved myself enough to work out and eat clean. I stopped dieting and working out because of what bad foods I ate the night before or because someone said my last fitness shot was a “little too thick” You want to know what else I do to keep this healthy mindset? I never read stupid Hollywood magazines or watch those painful reality shows. I fill my mind with things that are good, things that are healthy. As you think, so you are and that’s fact. I leave ZERO room for anything in the media to fill my mind. (Unless it’s the Rock, he just motivates me to no end)
Sisters, you were bought with a price form the Lord whether you believe it or not. You were wonderfully and fearfully made. I want to encourage you to love your body at each stage, love it right now! Love it enough to get it healthy. Stop excepting what the media is throwing at you. You don’t have to rent the space in your brain to it! To be at peace in your mind is priceless, and you will never have that peace if you’re listening to what others say you should and shouldn’t be. To cure this you just have to not fill your mind with this stuff.
So, what’s beautiful to you? Ask yourself and that will show you where you are. For me it used to be the numbers on the scale. Now, its true strength in someone at ANY weight, its peace of mind, its encouraging others, it’s the woman who is 100 lbs. overweight and taking her first step towards healing, it’s the feeling of looking in the mirror at any weight and loving myself, it’s the strength to move forward after abuse and traumas, its sweat, its determination and so much more. What’s beautiful to the world isn’t true beauty, my girls- it’s just not. I encourage you to love yourself today because there is a God who loves you right now, just as you are, no matter what. Love, Coach SJ XO
