I have been blessed that I have grown up naturally confident. Even throughout my middle school and high school career, I have always been happy and confident with my body. I'm sure most of you must be thinking I was probably as thin as a piece of paper and society's standard of "pretty." I wasn't. I was short for my age (still am), still skinny but curvier than most tweens. Recently over the summer, I was not able to find a summer job, so I decided to focus on getting back in shape since I could not rely on hours of cheerleading, dance, and acrobatics practice to keep me fit anymore. I decided to make this change because I had gained the "freshman 15" and lost a lot of my inhuman upper-body strength. Even though I had gained weight and lost muscle definition, I was still confident and always felt like the ten out of ten I know I am.

I decided to get in shape for myself, not for anyone else. I wanted to change my body for health reasons. I wanted to have more energy during the day, sleep better at night, get those endorphins pumping and improve my brain health. I also decided to get in shape because I was bored and got tired of sitting around scrolling through Instagram passing the same pictures over and over again. Who would even guess that I would love it so much that I would decide to get certified to teach barre fitness classes!

Just because I decided I wanted to change the way my body looks, does not mean I was unhappy with my body.

Making a lifestyle change in any way does not mean someone is dissatisfied with whatever it is they are altering. They are making a change in their life simply because they wanted to. The physical change in myself was just a benefit. As long as you are content in your body and you are healthy, keep on doing what you are doing.