It’s a new year, which means most of us head to our local gym to try to meet our new year’s fitness goals.
Over the next few weeks, we might spend hundreds of dollars trying to “buy” a new body, spending money on gym memberships, diet plans and fitness equipment, all in an attempt to achieve a six pack or Kim Kardashian’s backside.
However, one woman has had enough of putting impossible demands on her body.
Girls Gong Strong founder and fitness trainer, Molly Galbraith has posted an inspiring photo on social media and the image and her caption are going viral.
Molly has resolved not to achieve the perfect body this year, but to accept her body for exactly the way it is.
She explains that she has “spent too much time energy, and mental space” wishing her body would look different and has decided NOT to do anything about the way that it looks.
On January 1st, Molly posted a picture of herself in a bikini at the beach, calling it a “LIFE picture,” rather than a “before or after” picture.
She writes, “This body has been publicly evaluated, judged, and criticized, and those judgments have been used to determine my level of skill as a coach and a trainer, and my worth as a person, both positively and negatively.”
She says she has been called “too fat and too thin” and “too strong and too weak” all within the same week.
Molly just couldn’t win when it came to her body.
However, taking the pressure off of herself has made all the difference.
She writes, “This is the first year in as long as I can remember that I have made NO resolutions to change the way my body looks. This is a kind of freedom I didn’t think I’d ever experience, and it feels really, really good.”
Molly has let go of trying to reach impossible body standards. What an inspiring and refreshing approach to the New Year!
Here is Molly’s empowering photo and caption that is taking the internet by storm:
This is my body. This not a before picture. This is not an after picture.This just happens to be what my body looks...
Posted by Molly Galbraith on Friday, January 1, 2016
“This is my body.
This not a before picture.
This is not an after picture.
This just happens to be what my body looks like on a random Tuesday in December of 2015 — it’s a LIFE picture.
This is a body that loves protein and vegetables and queso and ice cream.
This is a body that loves bent presses and pull-ups and deadlifts and sleep.
This is a body that has been abused with fast food and late nights and stress.
This is a body that has been pushed to the brink of leanness in figure competitions and maximum strength in powerlifting meets.
This is a body that begged for mercy when it was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s and PCOS.
This is a body that has been called:
– too fat
– too thin
– too masculine
– too strong
– too weak
– too big
– too skinny
…all within the same week.
This body has been publicly evaluated, judged, and criticized, and those judgments have been used to determine my level of skill as a coach and a trainer, and my worth as a person, both positively and negatively.
Some people say they would “kill to have this body.”
Others say they would “kill themselves if they had this body.”
(Yes, unfortunately that’s actually a thing humans say to one another.)
This is a body that I spent too much time, energy, and mental space wishing would look differently.
And today?
Today this is a body that is loved, adored, and cherished by the only person whose opinion matters — ME.
This is the first year in as long as I can remember that I have made NO resolutions to change the way my body looks.
This is a kind of freedom I didn’t think I’d ever experience, and it feels really, really good.”
