Fitness Tip of the Day #23

FITNESS TIP OF THE DAY:

Accept yourself for who you are today … and the person you are working towards becoming as you work towards your health and fitness goals.

We are all familiar with the benefits of regular exercise and physical activity and their effects on self-esteem (positively evaluating who we are as a person and holding our value in high regard). Unfortunately, because we “evaluate” our worth it is hard to maintain our self-esteem because it can change for a variety of reasons and is not stable. Self-respect, on the other hand, is our ability to accept who we are as an individual … right now. Self-respect provides stability in own our view of ourselves and self-esteem shifts as we evolve and change over time.

For example, someone may really enjoy Zumba classes and the latin-inspired music … but know they are not very coordinated and may look silly. They accept the fact that they are not going to look perfect or keep in time with the rest of the class and continue to participate. Because they accept who they are and what they can realistically accomplish they are not concerned about being evaluated or what others may think.

A person who truly has self-respect simply likes who they are and has a good relationship with “self”. Self-respect does not depend on success at any one thing or character trait. They know they will be successful at some things and fail at others … but they are okay with that and can grow. With self-respect we just like ourselves because of who we are as a person, not because of what we can or cannot do.

Regardless, self-esteem and self-respect do work together to support our success in reaching our fitness goals. When we are happy with ourselves and are proud of the quality of person we have become … we will be more successful in achieving our goals. Nobody is perfect … and we sometimes need reminders to help keep us on track:

1. Set goals.
2. Exercise regularly.
3. Love yourself.
4. Focus on being fit.
5. Rest and relax.
6. Eat a healthy diet.
7. Smile more.
8. Portray positivity.
9. Enjoy life.
10. Create opportunities.
11. Tell yourself you can!

Acceptance of self is a choice … but that becomes easier when we are the type of person we would want to respect. Learn to respect who you are today … and grow to become the individual you aspire to be in the future (stronger in body, mind and spirit).

Written by TodaysFitnessTrainer (trainer@todaysfitnesstrainer.com).