Apparently, we do. So in honor of Woman Crush Wednesday, I am celebrating myself. Sure it may seem vain to call myself my own WCW, but here’s why I deserve it. (Spoiler Alert: It’s not even beauty related.)
Anyone who knows me from the bare surface knows that I am the most nonathletic woman possible. I will be honest, it comes from pure laziness and no motivation. All of my life I’ve been considered thin and any exercise I participated in was because it was a class or social activity. Now that I am an “adult” I don’t make time to live my best healthy life and it has caught up to me tremendously. I am out of shape. — And physical activities stress me out to the max.
So when my two friends told me that we would be going hiking in California, I honestly almost had an anxiety attack. I’m very much so a city girl. I don’t enjoy the outdoors at all- –and I prefer to lay by the pool and sip a Patron margarita. I can safely say that no one in my immediate family has hiked (cultural differences I suppose). So the idea of going into a mountain and “being one” with the land, seemed frightening.
But I did it. I hiked Eaton Canyon in Pasadena, Calif.! It was about a four-mile hike, which took us roughly two hours to complete, on a hot August day. The scenery was beautiful and it made me appreciate how calm and peaceful the outside world can be.
Too often I get stressed and so engulfed in my daily life that I forget to take a breathe and live. This hiking trip changed my views. It made me realize I need to do more things like this. I need to take more me time and appreciate myself. I need to get more active and I need to take care of myself. I was able to partake in an activity that I told myself I could never accomplish and finish it with a smile on my face. When we got to the waterfall (the end on the way up), I felt tired but I was so eager to just take in the joy of the trail. We all got into the water without any shoes (the rocks in the water hurt like a bihhh), and took pictures with the waterfall as our background.
Once the whole hiking trail was completed, I was tired but I felt ALIVE. Don’t get me wrong, I was happy it was over. But it felt so amazing to put my fears and laziness to rest and do something so out of my comfort zone.
Hiking taught me that I am a strong woman and all it takes is for me to believe in myself. Don’t give up. Try something that scares you.