..::3xF::Faith|Family|Fitness::.. Flashback Friday::Fitness Friday: There is nothing more rare, nor more beautiful, than a woman being >>UNAPOLOGETICALLY<< herself; comfortable in her perfect imperfection. To me, that is the true essence of beauty. I read this quote today and was like WOW, yes that’s it, this quote gets me, ha ha. I guess why I loved it so much is because it was so relatable and accurate to so many aspects in my life. Competing in fitness competitions has taught me a lot, a lot about myself, a lot about other people as well as the fitness industry itself. I had an absolute blast in my first competition (NANBF), met so many awesome people, made great friends, and learned more than I ever thought possible in such a short amount of time. All of my hard work front and center on a stage to be critiqued and picked apart by judges. Judges whose opinion and mindset will change from one day to the next with no rhyme or reason. In all of its awesomeness it was also an eye opener. It was my first show and a huge one at that, I placed 7^th out of 29 and was very proud. There were some amazing ladies on that stage and I felt honored. I felt pretty good about it all until I got the judge’s comments in the mail… Reduce muscle in legs, too hard in stomach, great physique too much muscle in back for bikini, consider figure category. ???? I was like wait…what?! I’m sorry I thought I entered a ‘fitness bikini’ division, I was un-aware you were looking for Miss Hooters/Hawaiian tropic? Is muscle not what makes this competition different from other so said Bikini contest? I have always carried muscle and had an athletic frame, training has always been a passion of mine and I enjoy it very much for many different reasons, competing was kind of a thought like ‘ok it will be fun just to take it to the next level and see what ‘I’ can actually do for myself’ and it has always been that mindset. So I did another show (NPC), dropped 8lbs of muscle and fat from my first show (pretty sure most was muscle :*/) same feedback. At that point I was like OK, this is probably not for me, lol.

I have always been a sucker for competition no matter what kind or in what way, I love pushing myself but I still want to BE MYSELF. So I took a year off and decided to just have fun with what I LOVED, training, building muscle, pushing guys around in the gym ;p etc. This year I have had the honor of representing Hot Springs as Mrs. Hot Springs in the Mrs. Arkansas America pageant, I am not going to lie it is more of my element, having been in my first pageant at 2, it is a home place for me. :0 Some of the first comments that were made in regards to the pageant were: ‘guess you are going to have to chill on the weights’, ‘when are you going to start dropping muscle’, by the end of the convos all I heard was Charlie Brown’s teachers voice in my head. Wah, wah wah wah, wah. Wait again, I am like…what? This is the thing, we are all different and our differences make us PEOPLE, if we were all the same we would be robots, with nothing making us unique. I just happen to be a person who enjoys anything that includes physical activity, outdoors, a challenge, etc. I have a ton of hobbies and most all of them require the ‘get up and move’ characteristic trait. Lol.. . Unfortunately most of these hobbies have a side effect of building muscle. (who knew) I want to be the best ME I can be while representing MYSELF in all of its entirety! That will be a GOD loving/fearing woman, who loves animals more than people, being outside with her friends and family, and being the meat headed wife her husband loves and adores while pushing guys around in the gym. :))) It may not be for any judge in any competition and I am fine with that, but I will be UNAPOLOGETICALLY myself, with the muscle that I carry and enjoy growing and shaping it, as well as every other part of my life that I strive to improve while making myself a better me, UNAPOLOGETICALLY.

So if you are thin, not so thin, muscular, not so muscular, short, tall, green, purple whatever it is that makes you YOU….Be you >>UNAPOLOGETICALLY<< yourself; comfortable in your perfect imperfection.