Recently, my friend and I decided to start working out. I mean, in my opinion, the best way to get motivated to start working out is to treat yourself to a trip to Target for some new leggings and workout tops. Because even if I'm the weakest, most pathetic person in the class (which I always am) at least I'll look cute, right?
Right.
And after a Christmas break filled with cookies and barely leaving the couch all day, I figured getting fit would be a necessary step if I wanted my jeans to still fit when I got back to school.
The class was called "bootylicious" which I thought sounded like a great stepping stone. Do I want to look like a Kardashian? I mean, yeah. A girl's gotta start somewhere.
So there I was, waiting for my first fitness class at the gym to start, hair in a pony tail and feeling alive.
Long story short, I left that room in an embarrassing amount of pain. Like I could barely lift my legs off of the ground. I may or may not have considered calling an Uber to pick me up from the Recreation Center because that five-minute walk to my dorm did not seem possible at that point.
The next morning when I could barely get out of bed, I decided that I did not want to be "bootylicious." Like being a Kardashian sounds great and all, but at what cost!
When I told my friend about this realization she said, "being sore is how you know you did something right."
And it's so true! Just like with working out, sometimes being uncomfortable in situations can cause you to grow the most. The most uncomfortable of feelings like rejection, loneliness or embarrassment may not be pleasant at the moment, but it's how you react to those situations that shapes you. The strength it takes to get back into the gym after a butt kicking workout is the same kind of strength it takes to keep chasing that dream, reaching out to that friend or even to keep studying. It's okay to be uncomfortable sometimes. It's out of uncomfortable situations that you gain muscle and are better prepared to relate to other people and other situations that happen in life.
So although I'm still feeling the burn of that one workout, you can find me at the gym because persevering through discomfort is important. And I still kinda want to look like a Kardashian.
