Editions of Me

That awesome moment when you squat 390lbs as a girl , and everyone is happy and proud instead of feeling threatened or resentful. (Photo credit: Bobby Menbari of Tabata Times) I've waxed ecstatic about my gym, Anchored Strength & Conditioning, before , and as you could probably tell from my lifting videos , things are going really well for me on that front. I've found a place where I belong and I've found a sport that I can excel at. This isn't everyone's story. At least, this is not every woman's story. I've read more than my fair share of comments and blogs from women who get bothered (at best) and harassed (at worst) when they go to the gym. And that sucks, for many reasons. Women are expected to be attractive and sexy, which includes being fit and thin, so that often necessitates going to the gym. And while they're AT the gym, working hard and trying to achieve their goals, they also get treated like objects and eye candy. Or, if they'r...

A quick search on Google tells me that the opposite of a bucket list is a F***-It List, a list of things you have absolutely no desire to do before you die. And while I do have certain things that meet this criteria, I ultimately feel like making a list like that, for me anyway, would come across as more negative than liberating. Instead, I'm reminded of a blog post I read a while ago (which I can no longer find), where instead of making a list of awesome things she wants to do before she dies, the writer makes a list of awesome things she has already done, that she is proud of and happy about. I really like this idea. I've been feeling pretty down lately about my knee and about not being able to run. It's easy for me to get stuck in this downward spiral of sadness and despair. And really, I shouldn't because in truth, I'm a really lucky woman. I've had many amazing opportunities in my life, and I've done a lot of cool things. So this list is not meant...

435lb #deadlift!! That's a 20lb #PR!! 5 weeks til the big meet. #powerlifting #fitness #fitnamese #girlswholift #beastmode #everydayislegday #anchoredsc @anchoredsc @fitnamese @sixstringidiot @sara_berlin115 A video posted by Thu (@acciobeastmode) on Oct 10, 2015 at 11:51am PDT

2001/2015 Dear Teenaged Me, What would you say to me if you could know what our life would be like now? What if I could show you that things were not going to turn out how you planned? Would you just shrug and say "Okay"? Or would you be disappointed in me? What if I told you that you're not going to be a doctor like you've wanted since you were 6? You're not going to do anything even remotely sciencey, and you're definitely going to be doing anything "glamorous." And that even after ten years on the job, you will still have doubts every single day about whether you made the right decision. Every. Single. Day.  The extent to which you will experience Imposter Syndrome wrt your job will be staggering . And also: you had wanted to get married by 25 and to have at least one kid by 30. Well, the kid part happened. And you're not going to get married, but you're still in love with the same shy boy whom you met when you were 15. And t...