There Will Always Be Mean Girls

After 11 days of being really sick and constantly blowing my nose and coughing, I managed to go to the gym tonight! It was a great feeling. I typically go with a plan, but tonight I decided to listen to my body and do exercises based on how I felt.

I started with the eliptical (my favorite warm up machine to get my heart rate going). I was about 15 minutes into my warm up when two (very young looking) girls showed up and used the machines to my right. I noticed the one girl closest to me kept looking at my machine, leaning toward her friend whispering, leaning back and looking...etc. I let this happen for about 5 minutes. I eventually decided to go run the track instead of getting annoyed. Before I got off I noticed another girl getting on the eliptical at the very end of the row (closest to the girls). This girl was a little bigger (like me). You can tell by looking at her, that she had been bigger and was there to do work and really improve herself. We made eye contact and of course had an instant bond; we had the same goals.

Now, what happened next happened fast.

I noticed the other girl (farthest away from me, but closest to the other larger girl) looking at the larger girls' machine and whispering to her friend. The same exact thing they did to me. As I was wiping my machine down and collecting my phone and water the girl closest to me continued to eye me up and down. I had this "roar" rise in my throat and stomach. I could hear the words escape before they were formed.

"Hey, excuse me. Yea, you. Do you and your friend have a problem?"
"Excuse me?"
"Do you and your friend have a problem? You can't seem to keep your eyes on your own machine or body"
"no...no...I don't know what you mean."
"You better believe that she and I (pointing to the larger girl) could take you and your friend on in any part of this gym. Go back to high school if you want to be mean girls. Don't come to a gym with that attitude".
Blank stare...

My hands were shaking, my heart was racing; ready to race or lift weights to beat these girls.

The larger girl at the end looked at me and said, "Hey, thank you!" We both smiled.

As I walked away to run off the adrenaline on the track a body builder who had been standing near reached his fist out and said "Nice work".

That moment or moments will never leave me. Writing about it now, I felt I might have scared those girls. I'm guessing they were freshmen; new to college life.

Lets get one thing clear, 6 months ago, I would have put my head down and walked away feeling bullied. I would have left the gym feeling like I didn't belong there.

I belong there. I have the desire to be there every single day. I will transform my body and mind with those machines and those walls. That is my sanctuary and I will not tolerate someone making me feel less than worthy to be in that place.

To those mean girls, I don't have to say much else than what I did tonight. Please take this experience and the rest of the experiences you will come across the next year away from home and embrace them so you can improve and grow as individuals.

To the other "larger" girl, thank you for being a warrior. Thank you for sharing that win with me tonight. I hope we run into one another soon.

Everyone else, don't ever let someone dictate or make you feel like you cannot measure up due to what THEY think your abilities are. Prove them wrong.

xoxo