Getting your dream body isn't easy, and at times it certainly ain't pretty either (sweat everywhere and camel toe anyone?) but Instagram tells a totally different story. Come on, how many times has your scrolling sesh left you feeling deflated, unconfident and actually pretty damn crap about yourself and your body?
I'm betting more than a few, and that's because those 'perfect' images we see every day on the platform, I'm talking about the highly edited, perfectly angled 'transformation' and celebrity work out selfies from accounts that we all follow (goodness knows why,) which can be pretty damaging to our self esteem.
But aside from such posts, look hard enough and you can also come across super inspiring feeds that make you feel the complete opposite, and I'm not talking about some cheesy 'work hard for what you want' life quote either. Enter Dorothy Beal, a brave blogger and all round inspiring running fan, who is calling bullsh*t on those posts that show a unrealistically sweat free, cellulite free and more importantly, completely fat free aesthetic, and showed us what getting fit really looks like.
Posting two side by side images taken on the same race day, she captioned the powerful post:
'Let's get REAL with each other again... I'm reposting this here because I think we all can agree that we are worth more than a photo captured at a race. Far too many of us let a single photo steal joy - the thing is - it's a single photo and we need to take back any power that photo steals
・・・
@mileposts here: Let's get real with each other for a second shall we!? How many of you have let a race photo steal joy from you?? Both of these race photos were taken on the same day at the same race. In one I looked happy and strong and in the other I was left questioning if there was a part of my body that didn't have cellulite. This race at some points sucked for me - I got sick - threw up before crossing the finish line and had possibly my slowest 13.1 time ever - but post race the sucky feelings faded and I remember the day being fun - drinking wine with friends after, joking how wine cures all.
If you had asked me after if I had a good time I would have said YES!! I still felt that way in the days following the race UNTIL I saw the photo on the left and then insecurity set in and I thought about how that day was not fun. But that's silly, because it was fun...A race photo is ONE SINGLE moment in time and I let one of them steal joy from me. Most times we don't look great while we run, but that's not why we run anyways, we run to FEEL like I look in the photo on the right - HAPPY. Don't let a photo steal joy - you are worth so much more than one split second - moment in time. #irunthisbody@ihavearunnersbody #whstrong'
By posting the two photos, both showing her looking fighting fit mid marathon, she's doing a damn good job of proving it's time to take back the power that a real photo (beautiful wobbly bits and all) can have over us and start using that energy for the better.
Forget how Instagram says we should look, exercising or not; we're all beautiful and it's time we started believing that ladies!
Has Dorothy inspired you too? Let us know @SoFeminineUK!
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