I realized a long time ago that I was not an athletic human. It didn't matter what sport it was I was always better at cheering on the sidelines than actually playing the game. Maybe it's because I didn't play sports as a kid, or maybe it's because sports "aren't my thing," or maybe it's both. I'll never know. But I have realized that my break up with exercise has certainly made my life better.

I was always confused about how people enjoyed gym class, it was the worst forty minutes of the day. I disliked the games, I disliked learning a new sport, I often disliked the teacher because they LOVED gym (a concept I just couldn't grasp). Once gym ended life got better, but still there loomed a pressure to do a sport or go to the gym. Neither of those things were of particular interest in my world.

I hated gym and how I felt afterwards, so I broke up with it. If I'm being honest this break up was the greatest thing to happen to me. How could something that was supposed to make you feel great and refreshed make me feel inadequate? I'm still not sure why I felt bad about myself after gym, probably because I'm a tiny human and I just couldn't really throw a basketball. All I know is since I stopped caring about going to the gym, I'm a whole lot happier.

"I really should start going to the gym," is something that I hear everyday. Ok, so go to the gym. Stop complaining about it, especially to me who is just going to tell you that not going to the gym is better. I just can't handle when people say this because saying you need to go to the gym is just a way for people to tell you that you look fine, which you do. Complaining about needing to go to the gym isn't really doing you any good, you're not getting thinner or any healthier you're just annoying everyone around you.

Also, people these days base everything on how they look, and because the gym is associated with looking good everyone says they "need" to go. No, you look fine, I swear. Stop basing yourself on how you look, but instead how happy you are. I found more self-worth in being true to myself and not going. If you're happy at the gym more power to you, but if you're not happy at the gym, find it in yourself to love what you've got and don't go.

So many people my age focus on going to the gym, not missing a workout and, the worst in my mind, depriving themselves of certain foods. I find myself telling my friends to go eat that desert because why would you even think of not giving yourself something you want? I am so tired of hearing, "I can't eat that because I have to work out," who cares that you're working out please go eat that cookie because I don't want to hear you complain about not eating it. Plus, as cliche as it is, you wouldn't deprive yourself of that ice cream if you were going to die the next day so don't do it now.

Exercise is needed, I'm not saying that you shouldn't exercise because that's not what I'm saying at all. There are plenty of ways to get exercise that don't involve a treadmill. Many great things come from working out, and I applaud those who do, especially those who love it, I'm just not one of those people. I realize that all of this goes against what a lot of people think, but I'm not sorry. This is something that took awhile, but I have realized it is totally ok.