I Run #likeagirl

Listen up everyone! It’s time to celebrate, just for simply being us!!

Yesterday, during Superbowl, the #likeagirl commercial by Always was put on the air.

I had seen it before while doing my usual procrastination internet scrolling, but seeing it air on TV just made me completely overjoyed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjJQBjWYDTs

Rewind back for some context: throughout my elementary years, I had always been quite self conscious – I have always been built with a more athletic body type than most, putting on muscle quickly. Pair that with also going through the awkward years ‘pre-puberty’. I was as thin as a rail, with what people would call “chicken legs” – long, gangly, and disproportionate (at least that’s what it seemed to be in my mind). I also was relatively muscular.

Personally, I had trouble being okay with this. I would get comments that were offside, backhanded, and with connotations that pretty much implied that I was too manly. That certain aspects of my body were unattractive, unfeminine, or less than ideal. There was so many things wrong about it, and so many things wrong with the way I felt about myself. I felt embarrassed and self conscious.

The other problem was that I have been an athlete for my whole life – since my parents were both track runners, I was around sports my entire life and gravitated towards being active and competitive. I loved soccer, track, and school sports. I loved being involved. I loved to sweat. I loved to achieve goals that I set.

The thing that was holding me back was my perception of my body image: I wanted both worlds – to look a certain way, but to also excel in my sport. These things did not go hand in hand.

It wasn’t really until I was in my first year of university that I started to love myself, accept what I looked like, and started to see my body as something that was built perfectly to run. It was what I was born to do, and once I began to see the positive sides, that’s when I was truly able to love myself.

In short: Comparison is the Thief of Joy.

Now, I focus on what my body can DO. How I can FEEL. Scratch whatever ‘ideal’ body type is being shown by the media at any given time…get rid of those comparisons and get on the self-love train!

I am now proud to say that I run #likeagirl. Remove the connotations and make it what you want. I’ve added my own “Rachel” flair to everything that I do – I am me. I love the colour pink, I dislike math, love hip-hop music, enjoy yoga, hate eating lettuce, I rarely wear my hair out, watch sports on TV, hate baking, and love dinner parties. It’s about embracing all of the complexities that make us…well…us!!

Rule the world.

Rach.