daniellebellfitness

The gym has a funny way of making people very self-conscious. And adopting the lifestyle that going to the gym tends to invite can make your life revolve heavily around your appearance. When you workout you are standing in a room full of mirrors surrounded by people who look better than most of the population, but aren’t satisfied with their bodies. It has a way of deepening insecurities while simultaneously making people more confident by making them look better. 

Attaining a physique that I think is great did make me confident in the sense that I don’t or very rarely doubt that my body is nice. I can see that it is and I get validation from other people. But levelling up in life and fitness has put me in rooms with people who have exceptionally nice bodies that are different than mine. I feel like the bar has raised since I started my fitness journey, both because as a society it has and because I am more aware of the standards by being in fitness circles. While I don’t doubt that I look good, I am aware that many women look different than me and great as well. Additionally, the ever-changing beauty standard keeps women chasing the latest, best physique and never catching up in time before it changes. 

Part of the reason the beauty standard is always changing is that when a new, rarest, best look comes out, everyone strives for it. Then, people start to achieve it, but part of what made it valuable in the first place was that it was rare. Once people start to achieve that look, it becomes more common and therefore less desirable. Then, a different, rare look becomes the new status symbol, everyone strives for that, and the cycle repeats.

This is centered around humans’ sensitivity to novelty. When we see or experience something constantly, our brain doesn’t need to process as much to understand it and accept it as part of our environment. When something new enters our environment – a new physique, a new technology – our brain processes it as something that may matter. In the human world, staying static is a risk, because the world is always changing. Staying the same limits what we know and the opportunities we may get that could be advantageous. When we see something new, we sense that our environment is changing and we should pay attention. We don’t have to pay attention as much to things we already know. So, we direct our attention to the new thing. And where attention goes our efforts follow. Hence, society shifts towards new ideals. 

It’s a good thing that the ideal fitness standard is constantly changing. It signals that we have to change, to adapt. If nothing in our environment ever changed, we would never change. It does place pressure on the individual, because it takes a long time to naturally change the body, but positive pressure forces positive changes in some people. It can also force negative change to keep up. This is also why peptides, steroids, weight loss drugs and any form of shortcut are so popular. These aren’t strictly negative or positive. They give people a better chance of keeping up with the ever-changing standards. But they can come at the risk of the individual’s health. 

My approach to keeping up with change is to lean into good habits and also into what makes me me. Leaning into my authenticity and my creativity and my perception of what a great physique is will always be rare, because it came from within me, not from what I’ve seen. And if I follow the goal I’ve made in my mind and the habits that will get me there, I will always be novel, because those goals and plans came from within me. I personally don’t have any plastic surgery and have never used peptides or steroids. In a world of botox, fillers, and steroids, simple, natural health is unique and honestly more impressive in my opinion. Everything I have and the way I look (aside from makeup) is from my genetics or hard work. And neither of those things can be bought. The natural simplicity reflects more on who I am. It is vulnerable and authentic to look different than everyone else, but great in a different way. It is a statement in itself and one more powerful than a statement that everyone else is making.

So, the more I lean into who I am, the more I will continually become more nuanced and rare. People may or may not strive for what I have. But, they would be better off coming up with their own vision and striving for that. You make a statement and stand out by being unique in your own way, not by following what you see in other people.