I recently started going to the gym more and more this year. At first it was to distract me from my problems and the pressure of freshman year of college. Then I thought, “Hey, maybe someone will notice me if I become thinner or have toned muscles.” Exercise started to become an activity I did to get guys to notice me instead of to actually enjoy it. Eventually, after getting my priorities in check, I was able to realize why I loved exercising so much, and I went back to doing it because it was better for my physical and mental health.
Don’t get me wrong – the effects that exercising can have on your body definitely come with perks. However, you shouldn’t be exercising for anyone else, especially not for him. Him -- the boy that you hope will one day notice you. You shouldn’t have the mentality that if you’re thinner or have more muscle he’ll date you. If he is only going to notice you because of a change in your appearance, then you probably don’t want someone like that anyway. You want him to notice you because of your personality, or your laugh, or your smile. Not only your body. It’s one thing to exercise and then see yourself build muscle and lose some weight and be happy with that. But your first thought should not be, “Yes! Maybe he will look at me now,” or, “Yes! Maybe people will be OK with my appearance now.”
I hear so many people comment on other people’s appearance every day. I have been insecure in my own skin way too many times because society does not tell us enough that we are not alone. Society wants to make it look like we are all alone and that everyone else is perfect. Well they aren’t. No one is. Even though that is extremely clichéd to say, people still refuse to listen to it. So we have to constantly repeat clichéd sayings because we are always being talked over by society. People tend to listen to society more than the truth. If you step back and look at other people’s insecurities, you will realize that you are indeed not alone. Everyone has their stuff. When I realized that, I was able to love myself more than I did before and help others love themselves.
Exercising should be for one person only, and that is you. If you want to exercise to get healthier for your sake, then do it. If you want to exercise to look better for you, then do it. If you think exercise helps release stress for you, then do it.
Just, please, whatever you do, make exercise about you and no one else. Because when you make it about how others will view you, the only thing you are doing is reassuring society that you can’t be noticed or accepted without looking a certain way. And I like to think that we are better than that. We are louder than society.
