Mantra Monday: The Person Behind the Sweaty Selfie

Ever notice the increase in these things called "sweaty selfies?" You know the sweaty pictures after a workout, the pre-workout post with the motivational quotes or the workout stat pics with updates? It's easy to look at them, scowl, make a comment... but do you realize that you do it too?

I know right...you're thinking "no I don't." But you're on social media too, you're sharing your life, your sharing pictures of your children, your job, your trips ect. When you're on social media, there is always the possibility of what some call "over-sharing." What I started to realize when I was sharing my daily sweaty selfies, there were always two sides to the comments.

One side supporting, encouraging and being motivated but there was always the other side, the one where people felt the need to judge, ridicule and even openly post about how stupid we are for sharing.

But....honestly, there is something so much deeper than sharing my fitness results, there is something more important then just flexing muscles, there is a story behind the sweaty selfie.

Two and a half years ago, I wasn't the fit person posting the selfies. Instead, I was the person judging the fit person posting the selfies. I was the person overweight, unhappy with myself, disappointed in the journey my life was taking. But instead, I was overly judgmental.

Then life happened.
A pivotal point in my life honestly.
A choice.
To succeed and overcome or fall behind and fail.

My life now has everything to do with my life then.
I'm no longer overcome with depression and anxiety.
I no longer feel alone in this world.
But it's because of fitness that I am on this mission.

My mission to inspire hope and strength in others through a healthier lifestyle comes from a difficult past and unexpected losses. My mission to help others establish a healthy foundation to elicit strength mentally and physically.

Over the last year, there have been moments where the need to dig deeper than I thought humanly possible became necessary. I haven't always been this strong, inspiring person. I was actually quite different honestly. My entire life I have been a perfectionist, I have fought to do things according to the way they were meant to be and anything short of that was considered failure to me.

When I started to lose control of my life, I knew I had to do something about it.

For me, that was sweat, that was fitness, that was pushing myself beyond my comfort zone and doing the things I couldn't before from poor choices and lack of activity.

On the morning of my grandfather's funeral, I took to the mat.
When my father passed away unexpectedly from heart failure, I took to the weight room.
When my best friend passed away, I took to my fitness community.

Every day, I posted my sweaty selfie to my health and fitness accountability group.
Of course there are the benefits we all know, more self confidence, improved strength.
But those wonderful endorphins...those babies brought down my anxiety.

As my body grew stronger and more powerful, so did my mind. I went from being down and out depressed to motivated and inspired to help others struggling with depression and anxiety to overcome life's limiting factors.

Sweating became the reason for getting out of bed.
My fitness goals became my life goals and enabled me to push outside of my comfort zone.
It enabled me to appreciate life.
And forced me to realize, I get one shot at this, I have to take it seriously

Today, I am stronger than ever. My health is in it's prime. But the biggest transformation fitness gave me was mental. I went from questioning my worth, my actions and my abilities to owning my past and creating my own future.

I went from comparing myself and my body to others, to accepting that some days required rest and other days required a push. We can only control the controllable and for me fitness and health were in my control.

Now, I make my mind and my body one of my top priorities. It works for me. It's what's kept my sanity through this last year and gave me the platform to reach others struggling with similar issues.

You don't have to find strength through a workout.
Maybe it's faith, or baking or gardening.
But we all have to find the thing that motivates us to push past adversity.

For me that just comes in the form of sweating.