Dear Social Media, I’m Not a Canned Good

Hello, tender friends!

I made an Instagram account to support my friend, Maniac Meg. Or shall we call her Amazing Meg? She’s the dear friend who gifted me this touching book.

She was posting all these fun toddler plates that manage to be healthy even though she’s a working mom with very limited time. Perhaps even more impressively, she was somehow creating fancy videos @tyrannicaloddler! (Well done, Maniac, and I can’t wait to see your videos if you get back to it!)

Anyhow, I wasn’t really on there to follow people other than Maniac, but I guess I liked a few posts and changed my algorithm. Then Instagram decided to show me a video about how women after the age of 35 need to take their work out really seriously.

Their reasoning is that women start to lose muscle mass at such and such a rate after the age of 35, blah blah LET ME SCARE YOU AND PRIME YOUR MIND FOR DECLINE, blah.

Okay, they didn’t actually say all the blah blahs or the part in caps. But subliminally? I’m tired of being f***ed with.

I’m not a canned good. I’m not going to expire. I’m tired of women being treated like some ridiculous timeline dictates how we need to live our lives.

I’m 39. Yes, my body has changed over time. That’s okay. I enjoy working out. Do you know why I enjoy working out? Because it’s fun. Because I like my body and the things it can do. Not because I’m focused on the percentage of muscle loss that they tell me to expect as the years go on.

They want us to hate our bodies. They want us to focus on the parts of our bodies that don’t look magazine-worthy. They want us to focus on declining muscle mass.

I’m not buying what they’re selling. I work out as hard as I can with the time that I have. Some days I work out harder than others. Some days I just don’t have it. Some days I still feel 20.

I don’t and won’t focus on statistical declines in muscle mass. I focus on being the best version of myself everyday. Day to day, that looks different.

I focus on trying to move my body in as many different ways as possible because it’s the temple that God gave me. I hope to have it for many more years.

I focus on staying healthy because I want to model that for Jacob. I focus on staying healthy to raise whatever future children God gives us.

I focus on having FUN when I move my body. I focus on the fact that I have the time (some days) to move my body. There were long years of my professional life that I didn’t.

But focus on declining muscle mass and a fear-based workout?

Nope. You’re not stealing my brain, social media.

Ok, that’s all for today, tender friends! Thank you so much to the new subscribers, and thank you for stopping by. I’ve tried to visit some new subscribers, but I don’t always see a comment section. If I’ve missed visiting your blog, please let me know!

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