It's fairly easy to idealize someone else's life, especially when they have everything you want and you don't have the motivation to put in the effort to get there for yourself. I suppose it also doesn't help that a lot of the people you see all over the Internet have these beautiful "airbrushed" abs, their hair is always in perfect place, and they never seem to have any blemishes on their face. What society seems to confuse is the line between a "highlight reel" and "behind the scenes."

Truthfully, you see yourself in ways no one else does. You see the way you look when you first out of the shower. You feel the annoyance when you're trying to wiggle yourself into a pair of last year's jeans. You feel self-conscious when you're in the confinement of a dressing and nothing seems to fit right no matter what you try on. You have to stunt the tears during summer bikini shopping—no one else does that for you, just you. So yes, it is easy to scroll on, read magazines and watch movies and feel a pang of jealousy and hatred for those girls that "always look perfect." I have people literally try to guilt me out of wearing crop tops solely because they feel "fat" around me and "I don't know what that feels like." Well girls, let me let you in on a little secret: I have bad days too.

I abuse my snooze button.

There are just some days where my heart is telling me yes, but my bed is telling me "don't go." Most days I'm able to get up without an alarm, but there are some days where I just lay in bed and constantly hit snooze or worse than that—fully turn my alarm off. For the record, I hardly ever sleep in past 9 a.m., but I still have days where my motivation ceases to exist. It's normal, but if you really want it, you'll fight through it.

I have days where I just cannot turn down a donut.

Pretty self-explanatory. Sometimes, I just eat five at once.

My clothes don't always fit right.

Believe it or not, I get bloated too. I know it's crazy to believe that working out can't completely stop you from being a girl and having 12 weeks a year where you absolutely hate having a uterus, but it's true. There are some days where I'll be like, "Wow... I feel so lean," then the next day, I'll be laying on the ground forcing myself into the pair of jeans that fit me yesterday screaming, "LISTEN TO ME, YOU MUST FIT." It happens, I'm human.

Sometimes I hate my body.

This absolutely pains me to admit, but for the sake of self-conscious girls everywhere, I feel as if it's necessary. I pride myself on being an advocate for self-love and female empowerment, but that doesn't mean I don't have faltering moments of confidence. More days than not, yes, I do love my body because I've made it into what it is. But that doesn't mean I don't sometimes "wish" I looked a different way.

I commit to everything [including my cheat meals.]

When giving advice to friends about their diet, I basically just give them guidelines on how to eat clean. One of the many things I tell them? If you get off track, start back up right away— don't wait until tomorrow. Well, I should probably admit this to the world: I don't do that. If I eat badly, I'm like "Commit to everything," "Give 100 percent in everything you do," AKA, commit to a day of cheating and eat anything in sight and go all out for your cheat meal.

Some days I dread having to look in the mirror.

It goes a little something like this: I get in an awesome clean eating and workout routine, going strong for a couple of days, I start to get tired, and—BAM—I'm too fatigued to go to the gym. Then I'm too tired to make my meals. Then I binge eat Fiber One granola bars, and then I'm bloated, can't move, so full, and that last thing I want is to look in the mirror. Then I remind myself no one is perfect and one bad day isn't going to break me. *Goes to Dunkin* *Gets another donut*

I don't always pick myself up.

In complete seriousness, there are days where I just can't help but put myself down, so I do what any sane girl would do: I put myself down to my friends in hopes that they'll be able to pick me up and dust me off...and they always do. (Shout out to you guys; you know who you are.)

I hold myself to really high standards.

I don't know how many of you do this, but when you hold yourself to exceptionally high standards, it's easy to feel like you're letting yourself down. I know I'm able to do great things, but when I don't hit my goal for the day I get incredibly frustrated—like to the point of tears. I just need to take a step back, breathe, and recognize and rejoice how far I've come. Perspective is key.

Sometimes I can't stop thinking.

Some people don't understand how much of a downfall this is. So, let me give you an example. Today I had a set weight for squatting, just got cleared from an injury, and immediately when I saw the number, I told myself I couldn't do it. I started shaking, I started being really negative, and a million and one excuses ran through my head. Yep, couldn't even get one rep. Is it because I'm weak? No. It's because I broke down my mental toughness, psyched myself out, and didn't believe in myself. Safe to say, I cried afterward and was really disappointed in myself. But now, I've had time to breathe, and I know I'm going to get after it next week.

Society gets the best of me.

These days are the worst— the days where I screen shot 100 pictures of fitness models or stare longingly into the airbrushed six pack of a model in Women's Health magazine. Why? Because I'm letting society get the best of me even when I know one of the most important rules in life: If you always let society get the best of you, you'll never be able to show the world that you're the best of society. FYI people, society's standards are always changing. That's why it is so crucial to create your own.

While it's true that I have more great days than bad, I want to make it clear to everyone that my life is by no means perfect. I don't have abs, but I work hard every day for them. I don't always hit my macros because carbs are my life and are currently meant to be my enemy. The mirror sometimes tries to lie to me, society tries to judge me, and people try to put me down and guilt me out of confidence. But, at the end of the day, even the bad ones, I remind myself of the most important guideline I choose to live by: It's what is on the inside that counts (no, I'm not referring to a Boston Creme doughnut). What I mean by this is simple, I don't judge people based on the way I look but rather by the way they live and the way they allow their body to reach its full potential. If I wouldn't judge my best friend, my sisters, my cousins, or my future daughter based on how she looks, then why would I do that to myself? At the end of the day, I love my body for the way it functions. So, despite all the bad days, all the faltering moments of confidence, and the misconceptions people seem to have about my lifestyle—I'm endlessly happy.

Thanks for reading.