From the time I was 3 years old, I have been an athlete.

I started playing little league baseball at three years old. The only girl on the team.

I was a natural athlete and being outside came easy.

I couldn't even fathom what I would have done without sports growing up.

I spent every day after school from the time I can remember hitting, fielding, or doing something to make me a better player.

I feel as though I would have just been bored and I didn't understand what other kids filled their time with.

Playing my sport in college became a dream at the age of seven.

I felt like nothing else in the world mattered when I was playing softball.

It kept me healthy and it kept me sane.

In order to play the sport I loved to the capacity I wanted to play it at I had to be healthy.

I worked out at the gym outside of softball practice/conditioning starting at the age of twelve.

I loved the way working out made me feel on the field and I became addicted.

I saw myself with more energy and the ability to play harder for longer than other players because of the time I spent at the gym or the time I spent running outside of practice.

I loved my body and how hard I could push it and still feel amazing.

I felt confident and on top of the world.

Then, I came to a point in my life where it became the best decision for me to give up the game I loved.

Once I did I got caught up in all of the things I could fill my time with instead of running, conditioning, working out, or actually playing.

I started to hate being in the gym because it reminded me of how hard I pushed my body to do what I loved.

For a while, I told myself I'd be fine.

What're a few months of not working out when I've been doing it all of my life right?

Wrong.

Now, I'm realizing the importance of vegetables which I never liked before.

I'm understanding what it means when people would tell me how hard it was for them to lose weight and get the body they want.

I'm recognizing how hard it really is to be healthy.

And it certainly isn't as easy as the weight loss chic with the huge butt on Instagram makes it seem like.

It's frustrating.

It's disappointing when you feel like you may have made progress in your weight loss quest but you only lost .2 of a pound.

It truly is difficult to make yourself get up and go to the gym every day.

It's exhausting to constantly think about what you're going to eat every day so that you don't break your diet.

It's grueling watching your friend eat that double bacon cheeseburger and extra chocolaty cake when you know you shouldn't even take one bite.

Don't feel alone.

Don't make yourself feel bad by scrolling through the endless summer bikini pics of girls with the "perfect" body.

Don't get discouraged because there are ups and downs to every endeavor.

But most importantly don't give up on yourself.

Others feel the same as you, I promise.