For strong women everywhere

I was having a conversation with my sister the other day about getting stronger. Now I know have had many experiences that have given me emotional strength in their aftermath. As it often happens when you survive something bad you either be beaten by it or grow from it and I am very much of the belief that while we often can't control what happens to us in life, we do have control over how we respond to these events. I have lived an interesting life, much of which I will never care to blog about. There is no doubt that I am stronger in that respect. 

However that was not what we were discussing. Even though we have had many a chat about the bigger issues in life and I truly believe that everyone needs at least one person in their life who can get beneath the surface level conversation and talk about the real things. For me that person is my older sister. What we were actually talking about though was the huge progress I had made in the gym over the last six weeks. It's also good to have someone who gets that because I know when I excitedly talk about weight or wods to non crossfitters (or other folk who habitually lift weights) that they think I am a certified nutter. Yet I feel the need to celebrate my progress and recognise how far  I have come. I was attributing my significant progress to the healthier diet, the commitment to training ( I have been doing 3-4 crossfit classes consistently every week for 6 weeks now which is more than I ever did in the past) and my determination to not let this break up break me. Life is stressful and break ups can be sad particularly when you have walked away from someone you loved at one point without a backward glance. I think in some ways I have been using crossfit to channel all those feelings and its doing a lot more for me than chocolate ever did. Anyway I digress, my sister said that perhaps my new strength is not totally from a combination of those factors but perhaps for the first time in my life I am giving myself permission to be strong. I think she might be on to something.

For the first time in my life I am truly doing this for me. I am in competition against the old me and every class I am pushing myself harder to do more and to lift that bit heavier than I did before. I am letting go of that feeling that men don't like strong women. So what, then I will hold out for someone secure enough in their masculinity to not be threatened by me. I think many men still hold on to this preconception that women who lift heavy weight look like men. I know enough strong women and have watched enough of the Crossfit games to confirm that this is very much not the case. I know that they are picturing female bodybuilders when they say this but what they don't seem to realise is that sort of physique does not come naturally to a woman. It is a combination of a tailored diet, supplements and training. It is fair to say that I am safe on that score but while talking to men online (on the dating site) almost all of them (without being gym goers themselves) seem to be only dying to mansplain training and nutrition to me.

I don't care what they think because I am not doing this to look hotter ( not that I will necessarily complain if that is a side effect). I am doing this to reach my full potential and be a total badass and show myself for once in my life that I am worth more than what people think of me. I for one and proud to stand up and declare myself a strong woman.