Embracing being a "Work in Progress"

Today we are constantly surrounded by media and images of what societies "perfection" and standard is. What are bodies should look like, how we should dress, and this false sense of what we are supposed to be. 

Reality, the images we see on covers of magazines are air brushed, woman are photo shopped, cropped, brushed and polished with computers to look a different way.

Here's a great example..

(Photo on the left, manipulated, Photo on the right, raw) 

This one was pretty shocking to me. Her arms, rib cage, freckles, face.. everything was altered. This isn't even the worst of the Photoshop imagines I found while doing research on this post.

Teenage girls all over America are growing up seeing these alternations on covers of magazines and thinking that they are real and this is how "we" are supposed to look. 

Yes, it's great to feel good about how your clothes fit or reaching a goal weight you've set for yourself.  But Eating clean, working out, and taking better care of yourself isn't so you can look like an altered version of a celebrity on a magazine. It's so that you can live a long life (God willing), set an example for others, have more energy and be more present with your loved ones. 

I don't work out in front of my daughter Lily so that she see's her mom trying to fit into a size __ jeans. I do it because I want her to see it's important to take charge of your health and to respect the one body God's given us.

I catch myself sometimes even now at 30 years old looking at a magazine or on TV and think "man I wish I looked like that." I have to put myself in check and remind myself that I am beautiful the way I am in God's eyes and that our societies expectation are not what maters. It's ok to be a work in progress and not strive for the world's definition of "perfection."

Today I want to encourage all woman, to embrace being a work in progress on your health and fitness journey. Don't strive to look like someone else. Instead embrace the one body you've been given and treat it kindly. 

With lots of Love,