Hello, blogosphere.
I was thinking back to the days when I used to blog all the time and I realized what was different –
– I didn’t have *much* of a social life
– I went out and did things to pass the time (biking, exercising, sight-seeing in the city, drawing)
– I wrote about the mundane happenings in my life in a ‘dear diary’ format. (now I do that on Facebook)
The cool thing about those days is that I actually connected with people on a more personal level and made genuine friends writing about life.
The down side is that my family didn’t really appreciate me writing about *their* lives in *my* journal—they wanted their privacy, after all.
Now that I’m an adult, and I’ve had things about my life spread through the family grapevine without my permission in the past, I kinda *get* that feeling. Don’t tell a story that’s not yours to tell.
Unfortunately, that leaves me in a little bit of a writing rut. There’s not much that I *do* any more, not that I feel worthy of blogging about.
I suppose this is my attempt to change that. I’m going to go back to the dear-diary format, except that I’m going to respect the wishes of my family and friends. That means you’ll see mundane stuff here, but I’m also going to write about my experiences that might resonate with you.
Entry 1: Legend of the Triceratops
So getting back on the fitness bandwagon, I’ve been more active in the Nerd Fitness Academy Facebook community. The women in that group are inspiring at every level of fitness and it really motivates me to keep up. It’s not unusual to see someone’s progress pictures put up and then to see a whole slew of comments reflecting on where the changes are observable to the third party. They’re all positive.
When someone asks ‘what is it about this community that makes us so judgment free and welcoming?’ the resounding reply is that people are still judgy, but they check their attitude at the proverbial door. ‘Not here,’ is the general consensus. I think that’s great, because little by little, I think it helps the women in our group to become less judgmental overall. If you have enough practice putting your snark in check, eventually it becomes second nature.
Well, then someone who didn’t get the memo to check the snark at the door decided to comment on someone else’s progress photos. They weren’t outright attacking the person, but they were not exactly appreciative of the person’s decision to post progress pics in their undies. Such remarks were made as “women shouldn’t lift,” and “have some class.” It wasn’t fair, and I think it stung a fair few of us to read her scathing retort. It blew up, not because those two comments are wholly against the NF way of life, but because this person only had something to say when a woman who was not already fit decided to share her progress.
Another Rebel stepped in, though, and delivered one of the best rebuttals I’d ever read.
“WOMEN should do whatever the [expletive removed] they want to do, be it body building, bikini competitions, ballet, yoga, or anything else they want. WOMEN should be proud of the body they have regardless of if it “looks like a mans” or looks like a [expletive removed] triceratops.
…Here, we love. Each other, ourselves, the good, the bad, the big, the little, the round, the sharp, the muscle, the fat… We don’t judge, we don’t criticize, even if we don’t understand or believe the same as someone else, there is nothing but love. I will tolerate ABSOLUTELY nothing besides love and respect in this group. Join us or leave us.” – Ginny Mason
Since that post, the women of the Academy have been sending “Rawrs” of appreciation to each other, buying merchandise to support the cause thanks to a little pop-up shop that another Rebel made, and generally making better decisions because we’re all thinking “what would a triceratops do?”
It’s even permeated my home life and ‘being a triceratops’ is what me and Jeff have been using as words of encouragement for each other.
Jeff: I’m not doing too well
Jeff: [Explanation]
Me: Can you be a Triceratops?
I mean, like, screw what other people think, because you’re freaking awesome.
I know [detailed related to explanation]
You’ve done great things with your life, and you’re doing so much more. You need to tell yourself that you’re a [expletive] Triceratops and trample anyone who says otherwise.
Another time, we were supposed to go to the store, but I had been wearing shorts around the house, even though I hadn’t shaved in about a week or so 😛 I told him that I’d need to change first and he said “No you don’t! Triceratops don’t care what other people think!”
LOL
It was absurd but so encouraging anyway. Under guise of being a Triceratops, I’ve avoided some sweets, gone on more walks, and made it down to the gym more often than I probably would’ve without that fire.
It seems to be tapering down a little bit in the Academy, but I’m going to make a post later today about how I’m a Triceratops for going to the gym when I *really* didn’t want to. RAWR, they’ll all say, and I’ll puff up my chest and nod in agreement—RAWR indeed.
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