memories aren't made in the gym

Some days I have to get something off my chest, something that's been bugging me for quite some time and somehow has to put into words. Some kind of speech waterfall, where words pour out of my mind onto paper, or in this case, a blogpost. I don't think I'm talking nonsense when I say you have been somehow influenced to change your body this year. But it's for a good cause, right? Be that fit version of yourself you've always dreamed of? That abs-flashing creature who makes everyone's bottom jaw hit the floor upon entering the room. 

New Year's resolutions, commercials on television or on social media around the 1st of January often involve new ways to diet, restrict your calories until you end up binging on the first bag of crisps and sweets your hands can reach, or getting a gym membership. You've heard of the masses, overflowing the gym during that first month of the year, to then start slacking in their workouts, drooping out with their tails between their legs to never return to that dark place. Until the first of January exactly one year later, of course. 

I guess you can see what I'm getting at by now. My endless frustration of people trying to change their bodies to fit into the ideal image of beauty, produced and reproduced by society and our actions. Then follows the frustration and realization that ends up in tears and anger, towards yourself and others. You may never become that person with the abs, the slim waist and that muscular upper body defined like Zac Efron's in Baywatch. Why, for heaven's sake, are new years resolutions about changing ourselves, as if we weren't good enough before? As if, for some reason, we wouldn't be accepted by society because we aren't slim or fit enough? An inch more or less won't make people love you that inch less. In fact, when you start to realize what a wonderful human being you are, you will attract more love and happiness into your life than you could have ever dreamed of.

Dreams shouldn't involve scales or measure tapes, they should be about making unforgettable memories and living your best life. Memories aren't made in the gym and calorie-less salads don't bring a smile to your face. Maybe, for instance, our resolutions should involve loving ourselves a little more and caring a little less. Weight shouldn't define our happiness, and it has never been a reason for joy. By projecting ideal body images media only create an environment where eating disorders can thrive. Oh, how overjoyed you would be if you would fit into that one size smaller, how you would love your life if the scales noted another weightloss victory. I'm not saying media are the sole reason for the development of eating disorders as it is a mental disorder created by both the person, the possible traumatic experiences in their past, and their environment. But ideal body images are one of the leading causes for body dissatisfaction, and we cannot let this influence us without showing that there is another way. 

If your resolution was to lose weight, train more, become leaner or anything that involves changing your body in some way or another, scratch it. You won't become more you by having the perfect body, you are already that one, special human with wonderful qualities that show through when you accept who, how and where you are. You are a miracle.