For as long as I’ve known it, I’ve always been the overweight kid. In elementary school, my doctor visits consisted of the doctor telling me I was overweight. In middle school it went without saying just by the looks of everyone else that I was overweight. In high school I started my first year by losing weight but gaining everything back once I realized my appearance really didn’t matter to anyone. It wasn’t until college, that I realized my physical health was important.
I finally understood why those so called “gym rats” were constantly at the gym. Yeah, a part of it was to either maintain weight, build muscle, or get stronger. But for me, and especially the women that I know that are weightlifters, it’s about the mentality of it. My mental health, was never great. But when I started lifting everything just fell into place. It may have something to do with all the endorphins from pushing your body to the limit, but mainly for me it was the pride I felt,
The pride I felt in myself for being able to put myself up to the task, to get stronger, to not feel bad for myself like the younger me used to. For me it was becoming the women that younger me would’ve looked up to and aspired to be. I’m not totally there yet, but I’m slowly but surely getting there. I commend so many people for finding their passion, and just running with it. For me lifting and working out is healing, it’s not just a sport, and it’s not just trying to lose a bunch of weight. For me, it’s forgetting about everyone telling me how I was or am overweight and falling in love with myself, and the passion I have. The pride that I have every time I hit a new personal or weight record, the long term and short term goals I was able to achieve, and even just the enduring pain and testing my own limits. Not everyone is lucky enough to fall in love, and find a passion that changes their lives so I’m glad that I’m one of the lucky ones.