No Filters

Life is too short to worry about how people perceive you... 

Nearly every image on social media, newspapers, magazines etc are filtered. Every aspect of that image.

Arms, body, legs, eyes, mouth, face...  

Even the model doesn't look like the model when they're finished with the filters, sorry, I mean edits.

The media are posting photos of models that are just not real.

Instagram is the worst social media platform for fake and filtered images.

In reality we come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. We are not one size fits all. Variety. And as we age, our shapes and sizes change.

Being fit and healthy doesn’t mean we have to look like someone from a fitness magazine. As I said previously, the model they're using probably doesn't even look like that at the finish!.

It suggests how we think we should look. Especially during sports. We hear it all the time. You don't look like a; runner, swimmer, cyclist, dancer, etc.

I can do all of those things (not on a professional level) so actually I do look like a; runner, swimmer, cyclist, dancer!.

It suggests how we should look to wear clothing. I fall victim to this. I'm too big to wear shorts/skorts/skirts. In fact I almost wouldn't get on a bus in my skort the other day. But I did.

Because my body is also shaped to wear skorts. Just a different shape. Variety.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not being dismissive of how body image affects how we perceive ourselves and the effect it has on our mental health. 

Because it does. I know this. 

I've been that person. Diets and eating disorders. Obsessive. At times I still am that person…

Why?. The media. Society. 

I work very hard in a very stressful job, which saw me working throughout a very stressful time (the pandemic). 

I gained weight, got injured, lost my fitness and my mood was low. But despite everything I knew the person that I was… am and I carried on.

With no filters.

Love yourself, be yourself. Love your body for what it can do. 

After all, you never know who you are motivating out there for doing what you are doing just as you are.

Apparently even I motivate people, incredible I know!