Every BODY, not everybody

Finding the right fitness instructor for you is like church shopping. You are pretty sure in what you believe, you have an idea of where you want to go and you are looking for the right fit to help you get there. I love living in an area where there are MANY instructors to choose from who can help you on your fitness journey. Judgement is a dirty little word that we need to get out of our vocabulary. I see women who come to class and march in place for the entire hour. I see women who go full out and walk out drenched in sweat. One is not working harder than the other. They are both different and on different journeys and are both warriors. Just getting to class sometimes is a battle when you have families, work, and other stresses in life. Getting there and honoring what your body can do for that day is a celebration! I don't know about you, but it's hard sometimes tuning out those messages of what people "think" being fit looks like. The constant stream of Facebook pictures that are supposed to be motivating, but only make me annoyed. The "body after baby" magazine articles...not motivating and not real folks! I worked up the nerve to take a "sultry dance class" once  and I was soooooo self conscious because I had this idea of what I thought I was supposed to look like. I carefully stood in a place where I couldn't see myself in the mirror and watched the instructor teach us about letting go and enjoying the movement. I looked at the women around me and saw the joy in their faces, not caring what they looked like. You can tell can't you? When someone is comfortable in their own skin? It's empowering! Going into that class was traumatic enough, but having an encouraging guide who was there for me, not for herself, was what made me want to come back. And for a moment, I stopped judging, forgot about what I looked like and just kept moving. That was the victory. I may have even worked up a sweat.

Don't let someone else define what success is for you. Surround yourself with people who lift you up and help you define it for yourself.