Aren’t We Better Than This?

I’m not here to criticize or cheapen fitness success, merely to suggest that it might look different for everyone.

Shame is not a new emotion. The animated Netflix show Big Mouth featured a character affectionately named The Shame Wizard. Unfortunately though, real life shame doesn’t go away when we turn off the TV.

Shame lasts long into adulthood and is one of the chief negative emotions that drives our more deleterious fitness choices. 

And, as with most hot-button topics in the modern ethos, body shaming has shaped an equally contentious opposite position in body positivity.

But I’m not here to criticize or promote either one.

Instead, we should aim to remove the shame altogether. 

Body-shaming can manifest in many ways, sometimes unbeknown to a person offering even a sincere compliment. 

In the most obvious case, it’s criticizing the way a person looks to their face.

It’s also criticizing another person’s appearance or fitness level in front of someone else.

It’s criticizing your own appearance.

It’s offering unsolicited advice (especially outside your realm of professional knowledge).

It’s judging somebody for the food they’re eating.

But it’s also complimenting somebody for their weight loss not knowing if weight loss was their goal in the first place.

It’s telling somebody that they’re too fit and need to relax.

It’s telling somebody to eat because they’re too thin.

These things aren’t compliments. They’re judgements. And they can do serious harm when we aren’t versed in the entire story.

So, in the words of Wayne from Letterkenny, “Keep your eyes on your own work there, superchief.”