Start a Blog

So as you may know, or maybe you don't know, I started this blog for a language arts class. At first, I'll be honest; I wasn't very excited about it. The thought of having to write three blogs a week seemed unbearable when I could be outside or taking a nap or watching Netflix. But throughout this year I have learned a lot through blogging that I wouldn't have learned through any other way.

1. I learned how to create my own writing style. I can write the way I want, sometimes the way that I would talk in a real conversation and sometimes not. I use sarcasm because I am one of the most sarcastic people you will probably ever meet and I try to use puns if I happen to be feeling creative and genius that day. The point is, I can write however I feel like writing.

2. I learned about fitness. I know it may be a shock to you but I don't know everything there is to know about fitness. At the beginning of this year I actually knew close to nothing about fitness, other than the knowledge that I acquired through my own experiences or track and cross country. But as much as I dislike school a lot of the time, I actually love learning new things. So this was great.

3. I also motivated myself. Sometimes my blog posts that were meant to motivate others motivated myself as well. I started practicing what I preached and it really helped me as a runner. Because running is such a mental game, writing about it made me realize that I had never actually been trained in that area of fitness. I never learned how to be mentally tough. However through different blog posts and research, I really learned what mental toughness is all about. As my AP Psychology teacher would say, it's "doing your best when it matters most."

I never thought that starting a blog would be something that I would enjoy but it turned out that it advanced me both academically and physically. So what's the point here? Don't just read blogs, start a blog. You have no idea what it can do for you. It can change you as a person in the weirdest ways that you would never expect, and that's a pretty cool thing.

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The End is Near

Sadly, all great things have to come to an end. Well this year's track season wasn't really what I would call great but it still has to come to an end too, and that end is coming this week. So you probably can't tell, but I'm not exactly in love with running (honestly I don't know how anyone could be), it is just something to keep me active and it gives me something to do.
When this track season started, I'm going to be honest; I wasn't very excited for it. I honestly couldn't wait for it to end. But even with all of the struggles I faced during the season, I believe that it wasn't a total waste of my time, because I came out a better person in the end.
One of the greatest struggles I faced this season was the high expectations from my coach. A few years ago my coach had really good track and cross country teams so the last couple of years have been rough on him, considering the team he has now doesn't quite measure up to that team from years before. We all work hard and do our best during practices and meets, but it never seems good enough because he is still comparing us to those runners from 2013. It has been a lot to handle, but ultimately, it encouraged me to try that much harder and it made me a better runner. I still don't believe that our team became as good as he was hoping, but the high expectations he placed on us definitely made us all better runners, and better people in the long-run (no pun intended).
The other thing that caused this track season to be more difficult and drag on longer than usual was the injury of one of my good friends. My running buddy that I have always stuck with in the past had a hip injury early in the season, causing her to be out for the majority of the season. Without her to talk to on long-runs and complain to on fast runs, the season seemed to drag on forever. However, I did become closer with other girls on the track team because of this, so even though I was upset about my friend's injury, it ended up to be not such a bad thing for myself after all.
So even though I faced many struggles this track season, and it was more difficult than usual to push through, I am sad to say that after this week it is over. I will miss my coach's lectures that just pushed me harder and the new friends that I made along the journey. You guys are great. I'm gonna miss it.

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Love Your Differences

So this weekend was prom weekend. Although, because our prom is a senior prom instead of junior-senior, I was not lucky enough to be able to go. However I did see plenty of pictures of all of the different dresses, hairstyles, and shoes. Well, that got me thinking, just like everyone at prom had a different dress, everyone also has a different body type. And just as we compliment other's dresses while still liking our own, we should do the same thing with our bodies.
Girls (and boys) grow up in a society centered around image. We are taught that there is only one body type that matters. Seeing Victoria's Secret models and other clothing models, as well as many of the figures seen on television shows and in movies, we begin to believe that there is only one body type that is acceptable, which is so incredibly wrong. Just as we accept others' hairstyles and dresses to be beautiful because everyone's is different, we should see our body types as beautiful and unique.
Now the truth is that you will probably see someone's dress and like it better than yours, or maybe you like their hairstyle better than the one you spent 2 hours on. That is going to happen. And that is going to happen with your body too. There is always going to be someone with skinnier legs, a flatter stomach, bigger boobs or a bigger butt, there is always going to be someone that you think is prettier than you. But that shouldn't mean that you don't love yourself. So you see a girl that has a beautiful dress on, does that make you love your dress any less? It shouldn't. Just like seeing someone that you believe is prettier than you shouldn't make you love yourself any less.
This is just something to keep in mind every day. I know that I am not the greatest person for giving advice like this because just like every other teenage girl out there, I struggle with my body image too. But it is something that I am working on, and just because someone may be better than you in one way or another, just know that you will always have something else that they don't have. You may not know what it is but you have to believe that it's there.
Now you may believe that this post wasn't about health or fitness. But loving yourself is a part of mental health. And you know what they say, healthy mind, healthy body. So therefore I believe that is was about both.

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