As 2023 turns in to 2024, I’m not making resolutions: I’m laying plans.
While you won’t always find me on the front line of the culture wars, there are certainly battles I will be part of in 2024.
I will affirm women who believe there are many things more interesting about them than their meat vehicle, and cheer for anyone who believes their body is not their masterpiece but it is what they use every day to create their masterpiece.
I will crusade to be a better version of myself. I will unapologetically do better than I used to. I learn and grow, just as I hope you do to. I spent many years cueing pelvic floors with “lift, lift, lift, high as you can”, but I’m happy to admit I do it differently and better now.
I will speak up against the erasure of the word ‘woman’. Women get pregnant, give birth, breastfeed and have wombs and periods. The word is woman.
I will support the battles of women who want to be stronger, instead of more attractive. The pecking order of goals will be 1. happiness 2. strength, and lagging well behind, 3. body change. Appearance is more transient than strength. Strength is more transient than resolve.
I will push back against stupid language. If someone I’ve never met wants to “connect” with me, or refers to the future as “going forward”, I won’t rush to reply to their email.
I will insist that there is no dichotomy between mind and body. We are each one wonderful, delicious, unique and brilliant entity. If the system says you are not, change the system.
My battlecry in the gym will be consistency. Showing up again and again is what matters. Get injured? Train another body part while it recovers. Not loving squats? Put them on the side line for a few months while you focus on something new. Never, ever, ever quit. Because you need to move till you die.
I hope you want to join me in 2024.