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I journaled after leaving Vienna.

I have been traveling for the last two weeks. Early in the morning, I always have to find available spaces wherever possible, or else, I have to settle for spaces that barely fit me as I am lying down. I have to make time for myself and my health. The poses, movement, or clothes—that everyone judges us for on social media—are not the focus.

For me, it’s just part of my practice. 

The move I shared today took me eight years to learn. However, even if I couldn’t do it, I’d still be happy. If I couldn’t share it, I’d still be happy.

For me, it’s my internal world.

I share because others inspire me when they reveal their journey to the world, and I hope I can inspire others as I share mine.

While I’ve been away, I ran, swam, walked, did body weight exercises, yoga, and more. When we say, “I don’t have time to exercise, or we don’t have 10 to 30 minutes a day to move,” what we really are saying is, “We don’t feel the internal connection or see it as a priority. We can’t perceive how it truly creates our real embodied peace, freedom, worth, and joy.”

And this makes perfect sense to me.

In a world of pretty posts, we tend to focus on numbers, shapes, and physiques, which is why we opt for 30-day-goal programs and follow strict diets. If we don’t do that, we consider ourselves failures—we rarely focus on our health and feeling good. Everything becomes about validation and external measurements.

When we realize why we don’t make time to make ourselves feel better by building a connection with our health and fitness, we need to give ourselves back the power to find it. Don’t make excuses, shame yourselves for not feeling enough, or compare yourself to others. Other people’s journeys shouldn’t steal our joy or make us feel less than enough.

The difference between how we value fitness from the inside and from the outside is that no matter where we go, what we do, or what we know, we should always get a sense of fulfillment and enjoyment from the journey itself.

Even when life throws us curve balls, we must not be driven by visual and external values for fitness. If we are, then it is easy to get anxiety, feel the need to compare, judge, make excuses, and feel unworthy when we fail to follow through with the fitness plan.

The problem is that, in society, we get stuck in someone’s programming instead of pursuing our own happiness and purpose.

My advice for you is to ask yourselves, “What brings me joy, happiness, and purpose?” and start from there!