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Genuinely Wanting to Gain Strength Transformed My Workout Mindset
Why appearance shouldn’t be your motivation to lift weights.
A few months ago, I was walking home late at night with one of my friends (also female). It was about a twenty minute walk, some of it through residential neighborhoods but most of it on city streets. The darkest, least populated section, however, was through a park, and that’s when I first began to feel as though we were being followed — which I confirmed by quickly glancing over my shoulder. I turned to my friend and whispered, “I think there might be someone following us.” We both increased our pace and took a route that was better lit. The man eventually turned the corner and we were able to make it back safely to our flats.
Although it ended up being a false alarm, I couldn’t stop thinking about how powerless I felt about the situation. Both my friend and I exercise on a daily basis and are quite physically fit, but neither of us is terribly strong; if the man had attacked us, he likely would have been able to overpower us fairly easily.
Now, this isn’t an article about female safety — all I can do is parrot back what more knowledgeable people have told me (avoid walking alone, carry your keys between your fingers to use as a weapon if needed, etc). What it is about is the change in perspective that experience caused…
