Fitness and wellness are not a means to an end, but rather a lifetime journey of self-care. Fitness has been perverted by diet and beauty culture; this idea that there is only one body type that is valid, with people destroying themselves to achieve it. Having goals like wanting a specific body fat percentage, six-pack abs, and lean muscle are fine, but what happens after? Goals are incidental, they help steer the ship but the journey is where the beauty lies. Confidence comes from putting in the work, not just the results. In a culture where fuckability and hotness are currency, health is irrelevant. Fitness becomes a drug and the external belief that we are being validated by others is the high. It will never be enough. It will become the band-aid in which we hide our fears and our insecurities. The costume in which we dress our inner child. It’s time to use fitness as a form to nurture ourselves rather than another way we add expectations of HOW we should be. Don’t should all over yourself. Have your goals, maintain your goals, whether athletic or esthetic, but don’t attach your self worth to them. Have a healthy relationship with your body, your health, and your fitness. Use exercise to be kind to yourself, not to continue to hate yourself. Photo by @michellekenyonphoto #fitness #wellness #exercise #workout #health