The New Year: The best time to hate yourself.

I’m sure we all know too well the New Year pressures: be better, more organized, fitter and most importantly completely different from the previous year. This message is crammed down our throats right from the beginning of December. #newyearnewme, Right? Ummm not really.

Lots of people focus on getting that dream summer body in the New Year. But go about it in all the wrong ways mentally, yes diet and a good exercise regime is important but if your mental game isn’t there you have already lost half the battle. The most important thing is first loving your body for what it is no matter where you are in your fitness journey. Yes this is hard a lot of the time but try, I am still trying learn this lesson in my fitness journey. Also feeling self-conscious of your body in public is just something that society has drilled into your head to feel, it is not a reflection of your own opinions about your body.

Cellulite? Stretch marks? Look like you need a sandwich? Got a little jiggle in your wiggle? So what. We all have something that we have been told makes us unattractive. I’ve been told that I’m too skinny for a guy and that no one would be attracted to me because of it.
Body shaming in any form is disgusting but learning to love yourself is the cure. This can be hard for everyone (men and women), I’m never going to be built like a Greek god because my skinny body doesn’t lend itself to that and also because that’s not how I want to look. Having goals for how you want to look is not always healthy because being fit and healthy looks different on everyone. If we look at Ashley Graham (if you don’t know who she is you have been under your rock too long) she is really fit, her training sessions are really intense but her body is not built to look like your stereotypical swim suit model or athlete and it is beautiful.

Your goal of how you think you should look might not be compatible with your body type. I find setting goals like “I want to be able to run however far by a certain date” are the best for me personally because they stop me from focusing on things that are not good for my mental game like trying to be a certain weight, size or build. Always, always try love your body and love it by setting out to improve it in a way that makes you feel mentally and physically better than you ever have. This is what your New Year goals should reflect, not something that makes you unhappy and not something that is not unrelated to you as a person. You are not a one dimensional cover picture on a magazine, you are a three dimensional person who's goals and capabilities are not always going to fit into the norm and that's beautiful. Find your own fitness and health goals this coming year and work on them in a way that suits you.