Everyone, at one time or another, has wanted to be more fit or lose some weight. As an 18-year-old girl growing up in the generation that I have, I feel like so many of our conversations are aimed at our bodies, how we look, or what we wished we could look like. From what I can remember I have always been shaped like a rectangle meaning my shoulders are broad and so are my hips that happen to be connected to a big set of thighs, and I can't always say that I have loved it. I have also always known a woman on a diet at one time or another, and honestly, I have been on one myself more than once.

In the past month, I have tried to change what I eat completely (and let me tell you at college that is not easy with all of the carbohydrates and sugary treats offered), work out three to five times a week, and get on a regular sleep schedule. After seeing little to no change on the scale I became frustrated, but I also began to ask myself what is important.

So, why do we focus so much on that number that cannot measure your physical ability? Why do we not praise ourselves for being able to hold that plank for 30 seconds longer than we could when we started? Why don't we applaud ourselves for going to work or classes and then going to the gym even though that is the last thing we want to do?

I think, more often than not, we try to change for the better and get upset when we don't see results right away. I had to think of it this way: I cannot study one time and believe that I will get all A's, life is not that easy. Just like getting good grades takes hours of studying; being healthy is not just eating one healthy meal.

Being healthy is mind, body, and soul; it is being healthy inside and out. Even though I thought that working out and changing how I eat would change me on the outside I never thought about the important part of me: what is on the inside. What I needed was more sleep in the beginning, and the more sleep that I got I realized I needed to slow down and take a breath because I was trying to spread myself too thin.

"A healthy outside starts from the inside," -Robert Urich

It takes healthy thoughts, a healthy support system, and healthy actions to be healthy. I have some great role models and people who motivate me to be a better version of myself, but those are the same people who love me no matter what the number on the scale reads. They want me to be healthy, but if they know I am not happy that is their first worry.

I think what this past month of implementing healthy habits has taught me is self-love. As a generation we talk about this all the time, but do we actually take the time to look in the mirror at night and be okay with who we are? Do we recognize our failures, promise to make a change, and applaud our strengths? That, to me, is healthy. Love what you do, who you spend your time with, and yourself. It doesn't just take changing how you eat and sleep but also changing how and what you think to change yourself.

I am not saying that me making these changes hasn't done anything because that is just not true. Again, you can't eat one salad and hope you wake up with a six-pack- that's just unrealistic in many ways. I know many people who have made health changes and have lost a lot of weight, but they also learned to love themselves along the way. I am still going to aim for clean eating and working out throughout my week, except this time I am going to change my thoughts as well. So, let's make sure we aren't doing what we do for a number; let's do it for a better version of ourselves each and every day.