I Stopped Working Out and Now I Feel Guilty

After the world essentially shut down due to COVID in 2020, I began working out almost every single day. Since I had absolutely nothing to do, it was easy to just wake up and go straight outside to work out with my sister. 

A lot of people were using their new overflowing amount of free time to try and get into shape. This helped a lot because people would share their at-home workouts on social media, which made it even easier to work out all the time.

Now that quarantine is over, my abundance of leisure has been stripped as society begins to return to normalcy. As a result, working out has been pushed to the very bottom of my to-do list. In-person school has been more demanding than I remember, and I just haven’t been able to incorporate my workout routines into my daily life again. 

Due to my lack of physical activity, I have started to feel an immense amount of guilt. When I was working out consistently, I felt like I finally had control over my health. Now that I haven’t touched a yoga mat in months, I feel as though I have lost that authority. 

In all honesty, this guilt has slowly transformed into a sense of self-hatred. It’s almost as if the version of myself who worked out every day is shaming me every time I look in the mirror. I see the progress I was once extremely proud of slowly fade away.

This overwhelming feeling of hate has put me in an uncomfortable position where I feel embarrassed to go back to my daily workout routine because I fell out of it so quickly. However, as time has gone on, I realize how necessary it is that I surpass these negative thoughts that have taken a true toll on my mental health; not only so that I can maybe one day return to working out, but also to regain my self-confidence. 

There is no shame in not working out as consistently as you once did; it does not make you a failure in any way at all. I know that may be hard to believe at first, but I promise it’s true. 

I’ve learned that getting back into the swing of working out can be extremely difficult, and because of this, it’s crucial that you do not tear yourself down for not returning to the gym. Do not punish yourself for simply taking time to adjust as we all return to our regular lives. Be kind and patient with yourself, you deserve it.

• covid
• fitness
• health
• working out