Good Enough Now.
We shiver through the winter months dreaming about a day at the beach. But when the weather finally turns sunny and we pull out a bathing suit, do you find your excitement is instantly replaced by a flood of insecurities? As you know, any new habit takes practice and repetition…you probably think I’m about to roll off a bunch of tips to prepare yourself physically to wear the swimsuit you’ve always dreamed of. Sure, I’d be happy to share my favourite fitness and nutrition tips, however, that’s not what this post is about. Oh, so you think I’m going to help you find a bathing suit based on your body type?? We’ll leave that to the fashion and image professionals. Today, I encourage us all to adopt self-love and acceptance and find a swimsuit that best flatters our shape, based on who we are today and to stop waiting until we’re “enough”…good enough, slim enough and toned enough to wear one. Adopt that feeling of being happy enough and confident enough now. How do we do that? By starting thinking that way. How we think is the root of how we feel which is the motivation behind the work we put into our number one business – ourselves. This fuels our actions and our actions equal our outcome.
Exercise can help with all of our physical and emotional well being and improve the way we feel about ourselves from the inside out. We are all a work in progress. So if you haven’t found a swimsuit to rock this year, start by letting go of how society has trained us to think we are “supposed” to look like and retrain our mind to accept our unique shape and curves so we can learn to wear our clothes, swimsuits, bikinis and all, well. I can roll off a dozen types of classes from group fitness, yoga and Pilates that can train the outside, however, the best “class” to start with helps from the inside out. I’m proud to say this is something I continually reinforce in my teachings and daily conversations with our members as do so many of our team at NRG 4 Life. Teaching a great class and leaving our fitness facility should include feeling empowered.
I challenge you today to start your daily practice of me repeating this simple phrase: “I am me and I am enough”. Yoga and meditation go hand in hand with this. Incorporate this phrase into these practices too and look for ways to practice this…during your morning commute, getting ready for your day while brushing your teeth, preparing lunches, gardening, getting ready for bed…You get the idea. Let today be the day we no longer fight our bodies and start to release shame and most importantly stop comparing ourselves to others. This can hold us back in so many areas of our life.
Happy swimsuit shopping to all! Let yourself be – be who you are today without any judgment and find a suit that plays up your strengths.