Fitness progress is often showcased in an extremely linear way online. However, between the consistency of working out are setbacks, disappointments, and multiple standstill moments.

Fitness has been sold to us as a lifestyle for decades. Now, with social media, fitness culture is inescapable and so are the discriminatory practices that shape the phenomenon.

Don’t put your body through the labour of body hair removal unless it’s for you, and you only. 

Despite the turbulence in my relationship with my body, I remind myself that every relationship takes time—especially the one we have with ourselves.

These standards and expectations leave women questioning their bodies and confidence. The marks and scars left behind are a part of me, but they do not detract from what makes me, me - no matter what other people think.

I was too stressed to appreciate that this wedding was celebrating the union of two people. To me the wedding was nothing more than a room filled with people, waiting to make audible judgements about the state of my physical appearance.