Let me remind you – you are beautiful. You have your shit together. How do I know you have your shit together? Because a.) you’re on my blog which means you have an internet connection, which means you either pay for it or steal it (that means you’re ultra crafty), and b.) you’re alive and breathing and therefore have a gorgeous life and have your shit together. I’m proud of you. Your mom is proud of you. Your dog is proud of you.

So why are we all measuring our self worth by how fast our mile time is? Or by how often we go to spin class? Or by how many wall push-ups we did at Crossfit?

I will be the first to admit that I am a huge culprit of exercise bragging and also exercise bitching. In fact, I posted last week on Facebook how impressive my mile time was, despite fracturing my spine two weeks ago.

Wait, what the fuck? I fractured my spine and I was still out running because I put my self-worth at how fast my mile time is? Yep. And that’s stupid.

So here are a few things we all need to remind ourselves a little more often:

1. Yes, you ran a mile in eight minutes, but when’s the last time you gave to charity? When’s the last time you treated yourself to a massage? When’s the last time you called your grandma? Let’s try to value all aspects of our lives rather than just the exercise portion.
2. Are you secretly proud of your exercise routine because you think it subliminally makes you better than other people? With social networks being so easy to access from anywhere (toilet tweets, anyone?), who’s guilty of braggy posts about gym trips? (Me me me!) Do you post that fitness motivation pin on Pinterest onto your “Melissa Gorga” board because you think she has the ideal body? No? Just me? (Yeah, this is embarrassing.) Girl, three hours of Crossfit every day of the week is not going to give you abs like that fitness model. That fitness model also has a personal trainer and a chef and a whole lot of dietary supplements to get abs that rival Vin Diesel’s. Stop comparing yourself to your Facebook friends! Their exercise journey is completely different from yours, and neither of you are defined by how many burpees you did in three minutes.
3. Do you hate yourself if you exercise less? Healing from this injury has made me REALLY hate myself. I feel like my ass is getting fatter and I feel like I look like a grosky little beyotch. But taking a week and a half off of running doesn’t make me fatter. What’s making me fatter is all the Chips Ahoy Root Beer Float Cookies I’ve been eating. I can torture my body all day long, if I come home and eat shit, I’ll probably look like shit. (But those cookies taste fucking delicious, so the cost/reward is a bit skewed.) Don’t hate yourself because you exercise less. If, like most of the American female population, you are unhappy with your body, find other ways to find contentment with the skin you’re in. Sometimes, for me, that’s just putting on a face mask and watching Netflix.
4. Mental health is part of your overall health, too. Don’t forget to work your mind out. Read that book everyone is talking about, take a photography class, or even take a good shopping trip (still has cardio!) to boost your spirits outside of exercise.
5. Be careful. If you’re suffering from an injury, let your body heal. (This is a mantra I’m repeating to myself!) Your Facebook friends will be much happier to have you healthy with a working knee rather than posting about your ACL surgery because you just HAD to run that marathon.

I’m very proud of all my exercise-loving friends, and if posting your mile time makes you absolutely happy, go for it! But remember, a slower mile time does not mean you’re a worse person. I’m proud of you regardless of how fast you run!

And you look super hot, even when you skip a day. Just sayin’.