Overcome Your Fear of Judgement
Do you feel like you have no time to do the things you really enjoy in life? Can you find ways to carve out more “me” time into your busy schedule?
After reflecting on my own and others’ perspectives about these questions ending my last post, “Finding Time for Self-Care in Our Busy Lives,” it became pretty apparent that many of us CRAVE more physical activity in our lives.
For example, during a recent conversation with a dear friend and loyal blog reader we talked a lot about her busy summer travel schedule and how difficult it is to find the time to work out. Since being active is so important to our physical and mental health, I invited her to share how she incorporates physical activity into her busy schedule.
Erin suggests:
“In the last year, I've discovered yoga; I knew about it before but was always terrified to try it, thinking my fitness, flexibility and physical appearance needed to already be at a certain level to think about walking into a studio. My assumptions were so wrong and I've learned that yoga is really for everyone. Since starting yoga, I feel more connected to my body. My teacher gives us many choices and while we are always free to push ourselves physically and mentally, we are also free to let-up and offer ourselves kindness and love.
From June until September, I worked in over 15 different cities, often staying in hotels for at least a week at a time. I joined yogisanonymous.com so I was able to stream classes with my favourite teacher(s) anywhere; the familiarity of my teachers' classes and the ability to take them anywhere really helped to ground me through all the traveling and transitions I endured this summer. Even if I only have a few minutes, I can still do a few sun salutations and check in with myself and be clear in my mind. I'm incredibly grateful for that.”
Thank you, Erin, for sharing your Record Worthy Practice with all of us! It can be challenging with our busy schedules to incorporate this practice into our lives.
I don’t know about you, but Erin’s response resonated with me on so many levels. As a naturally active woman, I feel at my personal best when my body is moving. However, when reading Erin’s mention of “physical appearance” standard in the first line, it made me realize that it may not be TIME that is stopping many of us from working out; it may actually be the FEAR of what others think.
Like Erin, I too have let my concern with what others think get in the way; for example, sometimes preventing me from going to the pool or beach. Or, I didn’t play to my full potential because I wanted to prevent others from seeing me sweat.
According to the research coming out of Sport England’s new campaign, This Girl Can, “most of the women cited fear of judgement as why they keep out of sport and activity, and 75 per cent say they want to do more.” (source) Have you seen the video yet? If not, watch it below :)
Two strategies which helped me to conquer the fear of what others think and to get in the water are:
1) Instead of seeing the process of being active as getting thin, reframe it to focus on how moving our bodies is good for our physical and mental health.
2) Having a group of people who will go to the workout with you (i.e., your crew) will make physical activity more fun; then, your workout will become a social activity too!
Here’s to pushing past the fear of judgement, celebrating our beautiful selves, and to jumping in the water!
Do you find the fear of what other people will think prevents you from being physically active? How can we help cheer each other on? How can we shift the focus of involvement in sport and physical activity away from outward appearance onto physical and mental health?
Thank you for reading and for your presence at this beach retreat. You Rock! We are all looking forward to hearing your thoughts in the Comments section below.
See you at the beach!