Do you remember the first time you walked into a gym, heart pounding, palms sweaty, and felt like every eye was on you? That was me once, too. In this episode, I pull back the curtain on my journey from gym anxiety to gym confidence. I share strategies that helped me conquer my fears and reshaped my mindset to self-encouragement and confidence. Ultimately, I help you realise that gym anxiety is not a life sentence; it's a habit that can be changed.
I will cover:
So, let’s dive in!
Find more about the 75 hard challenge HERE!
____________________________________
Want to unlock your true authentic self? Click here for Weekly Wisdom on how!
Follow me on Instagram here!
Loved todays episode? Please share to your story, leave a review or message me some feedback on Instagram! I will appreciate it so much 🧡
Do you remember the first time you walked into a gym, heart pounding, palms sweaty, and felt like every eye was on you? That was me once, too. In this episode, I pull back the curtain on my journey from gym anxiety to gym confidence. I share strategies that helped me conquer my fears and reshaped my mindset to self-encouragement and confidence. Ultimately, I help you realise that gym anxiety is not a life sentence; it's a habit that can be changed.
I will cover:
So, let’s dive in!
Find more about the 75 hard challenge HERE!
____________________________________
Want to unlock your true authentic self? Click here for Weekly Wisdom on how!
Follow me on Instagram here!
Loved todays episode? Please share to your story, leave a review or message me some feedback on Instagram! I will appreciate it so much 🧡
Hey everyone, this is your host, soph Storm, and welcome to the Ocean-Minded podcast. So come along with me and let's explore the depths of the sea that is personal development. I'm here to help you expand your horizons and show you that you are the water in the wave, so let's dive in. Hello and welcome back to the Ocean-Minded podcast. Today's episode is going to be all about conquering your gym anxiety and I feel like as well, it's probably going to have some valuable life lessons for just anxiety overall. That is something that I've struggled with, so I feel like this is going to be really juicy for those who just want to like move on. They just like want to move on from the social anxiety that they have, especially in a gym related environment. So let's go dive in.
Speaker 1:So I've just come back from the gym and it was really, really busy, like really busy, and I was thinking, like I was reflecting, when I was at the gym of previous Sophie this time last year would she have been there? And I was like, nah, straight up, nope, she wouldn't have been. She definitely would have walked in and like walked out. Like that's how much my gym anxiety like was. It was so bad I didn't even think about going into the gym by myself at all like ever, like I would never have planned it. I always had to go with someone. And even when I was there, like I was so like in my head overthinking every little thing, and I was like wow, I've come so far. Like I'm in the gym at the busiest time of the day, I'm by myself and I'm just like zero anxiety, just nothing. I just was having like this little grateful moment for myself of like wow, like I've come so far, like I literally have just changed into this completely different person that I don't even really recognize. And I kind of like thought back to like what have I done? Like what did I actually do to get here? And I was thinking about it. And it's a combination of all these things. Like, obviously I was going to the gym with someone and you know, I worked up like kind of routine with them that I could then feel comfortable doing by myself. So like that would be my first step if you're wanting to like overcome gym anxiety is finding someone that you can go with. Now, if you don't have anyone, you can go with paying for a PT for like a couple of sessions and just be like, hey, can you please help me just with the machine things, so I know what I'm doing. And then I'll like eventually work up the courage to come by myself or sign up to a challenge that there's so many options you can do to get yourself in the gym environment without being by yourself.
Speaker 1:The second step is changing your mindset around gym. So we tend to make up these stories that we know what everyone else is thinking. So for me it was like I walk over to the weights, pick up my weights and then, my God, everyone just like looked at the weights that I'm like picking up and they're like judging me and, oh my God, I picked them up weird. And oh my God, like this happened, this happened. Like that's what's going through my head, like no one's thinking that, no one's thinking that, but that's what I think that everyone's thinking.
Speaker 1:And, first of all, like for me, I'm not the main character of everyone else's lives, like they're not noticing me at all. And it's funny when you go to the gym for like a long amount of time, how much you don't notice other people, because literally I'm literally just trying to get through my own set and like be my own, like personal trainer, like encouraging. You know each rep that, like I'm not, I'm literally not going to worry about anyone else because I just need to get through the gym sessions myself, let alone worrying about what someone else is doing in their gym session. The only time I will like look at another person is when I'm like, oh, are they on the machine that I need? Like, oh, I wonder how many you know sets they've got like left, or like if they completed it. Like, oh, that's what. That's the only time I'm like going to pay attention to you.
Speaker 1:Other than that, I'm in my own little bubble because I'm like I've got to get in here, I've got to get out of here. Like that's I. Just I don't want to sit in the gym. Like I see people on their phones and they're just like like the gym is like their little safe haven For me. I'm just like in and out, like I'm done. I'm just like I go in, do what I need to do and then I'm like bye, because I don't love chilling in the gym. First of all, it's really freaking hot. Second of all, it's just not a place that I want to chill in, like I'd rather chill at the beach or I'd rather give myself more time in other areas of my life. So I try, I go in and then I get out, and when you're doing that, no one is like paying attention.
Speaker 1:But even like, even if someone is paying attention to you, why do we have to assume they're thinking the worst? Like when we're sitting there and we're going, oh sorry, when you're standing, maybe working out at the gym and you're doing like a rep, you're like, oh, did I just do that really? Oh my God, I accidentally like hit my, my, my leg as I went down on my bicep curl. It's like what happens if no one saw that? And even if I did, what happens if they're like, damn, she's doing bicep curls, look at her, Look at the weight she's doing. I couldn't even do that Like someone could be thinking like that. But we're instantly we go into, like this oh my God, they're thinking the worst. And they're thinking, oh my God, what is she doing? She just hit her leg. What a weirdo. She doesn't even know how to do a bicep curl. Like no one's thinking that, no one is thinking that.
Speaker 1:And even if something so embarrassing happens like you fall on the stepper right, do you honestly think that they're going to remember that for their whole life. Like even by the next time that you go to the gym after that incident, people won't remember you as that Cause. Like different outfits, different hairstyles, different whatever. Like I half the time can't remember half the people that go to gym. There's literally like the odds of me going to the gym at the same time as someone else and be on the exact same gym schedule as them is completely different. Like it's completely, it's so small. And it's the same as when people that you're like think that are paying attention to you Like their day, like what they have to do in their day, like the odds of them remembering is going to be so small. And like worst case scenario, like the odds of you even doing something embarrassing at the gym is so small. So I've been going to the gym for four months. I've been going to the gym consistently for four months and the embarrassing things I've done is zero, like the things that I thought that have been embarrassing where I drank my out of my water bottle and it spilled down my top but no one saw that. I nearly tripped up the stepper, but no one saw that. I can't even think of anything else that I've done, because it's just the odds of you doing something embarrassing is so small.
Speaker 1:So when you think that like you're gonna go to the gym, you're like, oh my God, I'm gonna like trip up and I'm gonna do this like you're not, how many times during your week do you trip full? You know, do all these things and like feel embarrassed, like even when you're out in public. When was the last time that you fell over in public that there was no alcohol involved? Like it just doesn't happen, doesn't happen as often as we make it out. So for that to be a fear, to not go to the gym and work on your goal of whether it's for mental health, whether it's for being fit, whether it's for being tone, whether it's for being strong, whether it's just because you just need to work on your anxiety, whatever your goal is at gym, for that fear, for your gym dreams to be squashed by the fact that you think that you're gonna like trip over and embarrass yourself, it's not enough. For it to have to squish that fear, it's not enough. So then the other like reframes that you can do with gym and gym anxiety, which this is actually a really big. This is just an anxiety in general. Reframe For me what personally worked and this is something that I learned from one of the therapy sessions that I had done and it was that anxiety is not me.
Speaker 1:Anxiety is a habit that I have. So there will be deep-brooded anxieties that you have. So there'll be ones that are like a little bit like more. They go deeper and you can't overcome them within like a day or six months or you know they take longer. But there's ones that you can detach yourself from a lot easier. And for me, that's why I keep calling it gym anxiety, because it's not my anxiety, it's anxiety associated with going to the gym, but it's a habit that you have when you're at the gym. It's the thoughts that you have when you're at the gym. It's not who I am as a person, it's when I'm in that environment. That's where my mind goes, and you have the power within you to be able to reframe that anxiety and reframe all of those thoughts into positive at once. You've just got to work on it and you've got to choose to reframe them, because everything in your life is a choice and to choose to reframe those thoughts means that you're going to be able to get over your anxiety at the gym way easier.
Speaker 1:This had been a massive game changer for me because it made me feel like it was I could accomplish getting over it and like managing it, and because it was detached and I viewed it as a habit. You can change your habit so easily and it's obviously like if you choose to change them, if you make space for the change for them and if you want to change them, you can do it so easily. And I think for me, reframing it to making it like this habit that I have to change or that I want to change, made it so much easier for me to get over the gym anxiety Cause I was like I really want to go to gym, I really want to like try and go to gym. How can I like reframe all my thoughts to get me feeling more comfortable with going to the gym? And that was one of them Was just looking at the fact that, like everything I do in the gym or feel in the gym is something that I can change. It's not a part of me, it doesn't define me and I have the power within me to change them if I choose to do so. So, looking at it like detached from being a part of you, is, like this, really good way of overcoming it, cause it feels like something you can overcome, as opposed to like I have to change my whole personality and I have to change my whole, everything about me, just to overcome this challenge. And we can reframe some of them together, like some common gym, what do we call them? Some gym thoughts that you might have, and some of them would be like, yeah, I'm going to embarrass myself at gym. And the way I would reframe that is I'm confident when I'm going to go to gym. Even if you don't believe it, just say it.
Speaker 1:My friend, my housemate, actually said shout out, she'll. I don't know if she'll listen to this, but shout out to my housemate. She said to me that when she goes to the gym, she just acts confident. And do you know what happened to her one time? Someone came up to her and said you were PT and she was like, no, she just acts confident, she's acts like a PT. And do you know what I've like done as well? I've forgotten how to use like a piece of equipment, because I was like feeling bold one day and I was like, oh, I'm going to go use like the tricep pull down or whatever it was, and I was like I don't actually know how to use it. So I went to the toilet, got my phone out, did a little goog and literally searched how to do it and I was like, okay, cool, that's what I got to do, I've just got. I like I got a video so I could see what they did when they did the video. And I was like, okay, that's what I got to do. And then I went back to the gym and I just acted like I knew what I was doing and I just did it Like there's these little hacks that you can have that can make yourself feel like a little bit more comfortable when you're at the gym.
Speaker 1:But you've got to act like confident and you've got to just believe that you're like confident around it. Cause if you're saying to yourself like I'm so awkward and I'm so embarrassed, you're going to be that because what you say, what you speak, you like manifest, it's going to come back to you. You're going to be in that energy. So get in the confident energy and you know what. That's why people listen to like pump up music before they go to the gym, because they're like listening to like this, songs that make them like feel strong and like they're like before they go into the gym. Do that. What is your confident song? Do you have a song that like every time it plays, you just want to like strut your stuff or like I don't know, you're just like I fucking yeah, I feel fucking confident. Like play that before you go to the gym, play it when you're at the gym on repeat. Like literally just repeat the song like your confident song. Or put make like a confident playlist and just like keep playing that and like really work yourself up to like yep, I'm this person.
Speaker 1:Or put on a character and have like a gym character and like Chuck Herron on whatever her name is Sasha Fierce, chuck Herron go into the gym and just slay the day away. I felt so young saying that, but it was also just like I don't know. I was like that's where it came from, like I just needed to say it. I actually felt so young saying that. Anyway, I hope you had a laugh at that, because I don't say the word slay at all and we have this joke in the book club that I do about one of the girls. She says slay all the time and we always laugh, and I laugh at the fact that she says it all the time. And then I'm now doing it. So, if you're listening, what are you doing to me? Anyway, this is my gym in dolphins. This is what happens when you go to the gym. This is why you need to go to the gym, because I'm so freaking happy, just filmed this podcast.
Speaker 1:At 5.45 PM.
Speaker 1:It's dinner time for me.
Speaker 1:I need to eat and I'm like no, I'm committed to helping those gym girls out there. I'm gonna help them get rid of their gym anxiety. So, anyway, I'm literally just like here's the topic and I'm just completely opposite direction. But just like, with your whatever you're saying to yourself, like whatever's stopping you from going to the gym, like your biggest anxiety or the biggest thought you're saying to yourself get that and reframe it, flip it to something positive. Even if you feel like you are going to be like you're not gonna believe it with affirmations If you've ever used affirmations before and you go, you're like no, I can't say to myself like I'm confident at the gym, like that's a big stretch because I don't feel confident. Change it to. I'm learning to be confident at the gym Because that gives yourself like this little bit of a leeway. I guess that it's like you're not putting the pressure of like I have to be confident, but you're giving yourself like the okay, yeah, okay, I can learn, I can learn, I am learning. And then one day you'll get to the gym and you'll be saying like, oh, I'm learning to get good at the gym. You'll be like, wait, nah, uh, I'm freaking confident now, like I'm actually. I literally just said, nah, I need to stop with this. Like I don't know where this inner child nurses come from. But you go no, I am now confident. And then you're like what? What? I'm confident now, I don't, I don't get it. How am I confident now?
Speaker 1:I wasn't like this and that's what that is me today. I'm like who am I? I'm literally at the gym. There's no anxieties, like I did not even care about what anyone thought. I was just over there. Like lifting my weights, do my thing. I freaking planked for like two minutes. Who the fuck does that? People do that, but me. I'm like me, like who, who is this? Like I had to look in the mirror and just like are you in the right body? Because this is so, so much I'm in the right body, because this is something. I don't know what we're doing, but that's what, like you will get to.
Speaker 1:And like when I like I can't even stress how anxious I was about going to the gym, like I was stressed, but I was like I want to go to the gym, I know I want to work my muscles, I know I want to work out, I know I want to get fit, I know I want to get tone, I know I want to get strong, like I know I need to as well, because if I don't, I'm choosing illness and I don't want to choose illness. I want to choose like. I want to choose being fit, I want to choose being strong, like I want to choose being healthy, in my opinion. And that's why I was like I want to go to gym by myself, but I just don't, I don't know how to overcome this. So I just was like I'm just going to, just going to overcome this.
Speaker 1:And this is where the 75 hard challenge also stepped in and helped me with that, because it was, it was keeping me consistent and I'm like competitive and I'm like I'm not, I'm not going to not complete the 75 days, even though it was my like adapted version of the 75 hard challenge, so like not the actual 75 hard challenge, it was like the Sophie's version, but like not trademarking, like I don't want to get like in trouble for like any of the whatever. It was just like my adapted 75 hard debt challenge that I did for myself because it was the only way that could get me doing it. That was something that like did have a vital part, because I was like okay, I started it at the same time Someone else started it. We did it together and then, like we got into that routine and then I went with like so many people like I went, just like my friends would just be like hey, do you want to go to the gym? I was like cool, yeah, let's go. And like I also have casual visits at my gym. So like they gave me like guest passes, so I was like just giving them out to my friends and telling them to come along with me, and I wasn't afraid to like ask people to come to the gym either. Like I was just like this oh, my friends at the gym, like do you want to go with me? And and like even just being able to go with someone and like just be like, like adapt with them was like this other thing that helped me. So, like there are all the little steps that you can do, which goes back to like step one, where we're talking about, you know, finding a buddy and doing it there. That probably needs to go in that section. But, going back to mindset, the positive can happen too. So, like making up these new stories and like reframing your thoughts is like a vital step in this whole process, because if you're reframing your thoughts and changing your thoughts, that changes your gym environment, like it completely changes it for you.
Speaker 1:Because I went from going looking at what everyone else was doing to only focusing on what I was doing. And when you go to the gym, like it's just it, it feels different, when you think different and it doesn't feel like this big, scary place. It feels like this place where, like you're around these, all of these people, and you're like, oh my God, everyone's doing like really good for themselves and like you're like everyone's working on themselves and you know, I see like 16, 15 to 17 year olds at the gym and I'm just like good on them. That's what I'm thinking in my head, because I'm like I'm going to go around, spread all the positive thoughts. So then I'm like I'm going to go around and do my best to do it. So then I get the positive thoughts back and I'm just like, oh my God, that girl is like absolutely killing it. Like look at her fricking, look at the weights that she's doing, like I. That's another thing you can do, like spread the positivity. Spread the positivity yourself. If you don't want to be judged at the gym don't judge people at the gym then Go and spread the positive vibes.
Speaker 1:If you don't want to make your gym environment shit, don't go around making it shit for yourself. So the next step is that make the gym comfortable for you. And this means like I have all of my little corners where I feel comfortable, like doing my stretches at the end Down pat. I've got three corners, so if there's literally two people in two of them, I have one more to go do and I'm like, okay, safe, I'm safe here. Like, make yourself feel safe.
Speaker 1:I go to the same treadmill. I use the same like machines. I go to the same spots. I even use the same toilet, like I mean, sometimes the toilet's a bit gross so I go use another toilet, but I don't always use a toilet, even at gym anyway. So but like the same locker, like make it safe, make it familiar, and like whether that's like figuring that out with your buddy when you like first go that great, that's great. Keep with those spots.
Speaker 1:But like you don't need to change treads every time you go to the gym. Like there's so many treads at my gym and a tready for those who don't know, is a treadmill Is like there's so many. So like I have like five, I've got five treadmills and I'm like if they're all taken, then I'm, I don't know what's going to happen. It's okay, they're all taken because there's so many that I can just go on another one. And I'm at this point where I'm comfortable now that I can go on another one. But like have your spots, like really help yourself get through, like the gym session, so having a little safe spot, even writing down like what you're doing, write it down and just remember that you don't have to do it in that order. Like you don't have to start you know leg day with the leg extension machine. You don't have to like if someone's on it, it's okay, you go to another machine, cause these are just like. These are all the things that, like I don't know I've I've gone through. So I'm just hoping that, like I haven't just had like this unique experience with the gym and someone else can relate to this, cause this is all I went through and I'm like I'm just want to share my experience because it might help someone else with their anxieties through gym, cause I literally have conquered my gym anxiety Like I. I cannot, I'm just going to say it again, but like I was really bad with gym, like I was really bad, I didn't want to go and I worked at a gym for like two to three years and I never went. And I even worked at that gym, I knew everything about that gym and I never ever went. That's how bad my anxiety was with gym. So you can, you can go like you can do this.
Speaker 1:Another little hack that kind of goes in line with the googling hack is that there's there's fitness influencers out there that actually show you how to do the correct form. So there there was this one girl that I saw. I can't tell you the name of her because I can't remember what her name was. I didn't end up following her, but she would like show someone doing the incorrect form. And then she was like talking to the person as if it was talking to you and she was like correcting your form. So she was telling you like what you needed to have sucked in, where you needed to have your hands like placed, you know, whether your elbows needed to be like 90 degree or tucked in or things like that.
Speaker 1:And I just thought it was like a really good video for someone who was like starting out, because form obviously is another anxiety at gym where you're like okay, I got myself to gym, I am here, I don't care what anyone thinks because I know that I'm just going to think positive. So they're going to think positive how do I do the damn like exercise now? I don't know how to do it. And that's where, like, those people will come in that can teach you how to do the exercise. And there's also another girl that I've seen as well. She goes around and does every like, uses like every piece of equipment, like that's her thing is to like go find like all of these pieces of equipment and to use them. And so if you have like a weird looking piece of equipment that you're like curious about when you get like eventually get more confident, like those ones that those people are also really good to follow, because then you can be like okay, that's how I use it and that's what I do.
Speaker 1:Easy peasy, easy peasy. You can sneak off to the toilet, locker room, whatever, and you can just quickly Google how do I use this machine. Or go on the TikTok and be like I remember they used that machine, I wanna remember what she said and just literally write down the questions, whether she says is your core tight or is your elbow tucked in. You could write down those questions when you see the video and put them in your notes and then be like okay, they're the questions I need to answer when I'm doing this exercise, and then just have them on your phone and do them when you're doing the exercise. These are just like little additional things, because when you're doing this, you gotta get through the anxiety of actually going to the gym, but then you've gotta have the anxiety of like doing the exercise correctly as well.
Speaker 1:Now this kind of goes back to how the gym is like about me, not about everyone else. So like I think about, like what I'm thinking at the gym. So right now, like as this confident Sophie, I am at the gym, I think about, yeah, like, how many reps I'm doing, how like I'm like, oh my God, my weight's too light, my weight's too heavy. Oh my God, like are my legs you know, my feet the correct? Like hit with the part? Like, what machine do I use next when I'm doing like my reps? Oh, like what, what number am I up to? Damn it, I forgot. And then I'm like, oh, like, do I need to like, am I gonna fail this rep? Do I need to motivate myself to like do another rep? That's what I'm thinking. Right, did you hear me thinking about anyone else in that whole thing?
Speaker 1:That's because when you go to the gym, no one's thinking about you, like you are not the main character in everyone's life. And it's like this mentality that, like we just think that everyone notices us and it's like. It's like I can't. I think about it now and I think about, like my anxieties that I had when I first started out. I'm just like I was like, oh my God, I really like created my own problems there. Like I really really thought that people were looking at me.
Speaker 1:And now that I'm like this you know, regular gym goer, I don't think about anyone else. Like literally I don't. And it's because it goes back to me saying I'm just like in there and I'm out. That's what I do. And some people, if they wanna look at other people, they can. That's fair enough. But the amount of people that would be doing that, like most people are worrying about what they're doing, like I'd say like 80% of people. And if people disagree with this, fine, fair enough. Like, if you disagree, you disagree.
Speaker 1:But like I just think for me I don't worry about what other people think, cause I'm just like I'm like when I'm on the stepper, I'm just like looking at the number of steps. I don't cause I have like this goal that every time I go to a gym I have to do 500 steps on the stepper on like a certain level, and I try and up the level, you know, every couple of weeks or so. So I'm like thinking when I'm on the stepper, I'm like how many fucking steps, oh my God, how many more, okay, I've got, I've got a hundred, fuck, okay, I'm not thinking about what anyone else is doing, like I'm like just trying to get through my. I'm just trying to survive here, like I'm just trying to get through these steps, like I am trying to survive. I'm trying to like, literally my face is red, I'm huffing and puffing. I feel like I need to drink like a liter of water and like that's what's going through my head.
Speaker 1:It's not what someone else is doing on a machine. Like someone could have tripped over at that point, like right beside me, and even then I would not have even been thinking about it, cause I'm just like trying to get through. I probably would have actually that's a lie Probably would have, cause I would have been like oh my God, are they okay? Are they okay? Not? Oh my God, that's so embarrassing, they fell over. It's me being like are they okay? Do I need to help them?
Speaker 1:And I don't know if I've said this before, but like when you're at the gym, you're making up stories, like you're making assumptions that people are thinking this of you. That's made up, that's all make believe. You literally do not know and you will never know what someone's thinking. So why not make up positive stories? Why not make up like, yeah, they think I'm like doing this good and I'm confident and I can lift heavy weights? Like, why not make if you can make up the negative so easy. Why can't we make up the positive so easy? And that's just like. That's just with life in general. Like we should always be making up the positive, because people aren't assuming the worst all the time, that, like we think they are, and like making up these positive stories as well, like it's a working process. Like it takes time to like actually make up these positive stories.
Speaker 1:I still struggle with it these days, especially around my limiting beliefs, the ones that I still haven't like overcome, or the ones that, like I do struggle with, that like I get, like you know, triggered and stuff with. But once you've made up like new stories around those, like once you start making up those new stories, you'll notice that your thoughts will just naturally come in more positive and then they will naturally, like you won't have any negative thoughts at the gym and it would just naturally, over time, get more positive and more positive and more positive. But it's also, in that moment, just recognizing the thought you have that's negative and be like oh, I just I just assumed that that person looked at me funny, and it's like reframing that to be like oh, but like maybe they recognized me and thought I was someone they knew, or like maybe they wanted to use this machine and now I'm on it and I will like, or just I will. Maybe they just looked at me and I just I just assumed it was funny, but it could have well and truly just been their face. They might have a funny face so, but it could have just been the face they pulled, like they might have just pulled a funny face and not mentored in any way at all and we're just like, oh my God, they looked at me like they want to murder me. It's like, no, they might just be looking at you to to be like. They might have just looked at you funny because they might have just like done you know 10 reps and then just like, oh my God, I did 10 reps and like they looked at you and like, and you looked at them when they were like dying on the inside.
Speaker 1:Now, the thing that I really want to say is that this took me time, like, but I'm saying I did this in four months and and and it can it, you won't go to the gym the next time and be like okay, I'm not anxious, but if you do great like, if you go to the gym next time and you're like, oh my God, I'm not anxious anymore, like, wow, sophie, like really helped me re reframe my whole life. And you know, I've gone to the gym and I did it confidently and I like acted as if I was confident and I didn't. I walked out and I was still alive, I still survived. Like message me that happens, by the way, because that would be amazing, but also like it's going to take time.
Speaker 1:So don't get angry at yourself if you revert back to your old ways. Like give yourself some, you know, patience and gratitude for learning. And when you do have those moments of you know where you you revert back to, like your old thinking patterns. Just like choose, just just recognize that, like pay attention to it and be like okay, I am self aware that I reverted back to the old ways. I'm just going to choose different next time and the next time comes around, think different, because you there's no point getting angry at like past versions of yourself because you can't change the past. Like you can't change the past, the past is set in stone. But what you can change is your future and you can. You can do little actions to help change your future and whether that is, you know, in that moment being like, okay, next time I'll do better, then do better next time. It's simple, like you can choose to do better next time.
Speaker 1:And you're going to have times where you stuff up, like I times where I still feel anxious. And I must admit, most of the times I feel anxious is probably when I'm around the time of the month and I just feel like a little bit, like you know, you feel a little bit icky. I mean, I don't know if I have any male listeners, but like, if I do, you probably can't relate to this, but you feel like a little bit icky. You feel like you know, just, am I going to be a little bit? Do I smell? Do I feel? Do I feel gross? Like you just feel when you're on that time of the month and they say not to go to the gym on that time of the month, but sometimes I need to like I actually just like need to go to the gym on that, that part of my cycle. So I do and, yeah, I do feel a little bit icky, I do feel a little bit gross, but and I do get a little bit self conscious, but that's like fine because I just spray. I like I don't know why I get, like I think I smell when I'm at the gym, though that's what goes through my head at that time. So I like spray myself.
Speaker 1:I'd make sure I take deodorant, I make sure I'm like making myself feel more comfortable. And there's there's steps that you can take to make yourself feel more comfortable, which is going back to what I was saying before like having your spots to make yourself feel more comfortable. Have a gym bag full of everything. If it gets rid of your anxiety and you're like oh my God, what happens if I sweat through my top. Have a gym bag full of everything. Like no one's going to be. Like, oh my God, that girl changed tops. No one's going to notice that. Like, if you want to, if you feel more comfortable changing tops halfway through a session, change tops halfway through a session. Another thing to help with gym anxiety and I don't know what step I'm up to now because I've said so many things to help but recognizing that consistency is different for everyone. So this was a big like this for me when I reframed this for myself. This is where they, where I, had the biggest improvement.
Speaker 1:So I always thought that like if I had to go to gym I had to go five times a week, I had to work out every single day. But my body doesn't work like that, like I can't physically do that and I go two days a week and that for me I might go three days in the future, I don't know. At this point in time two days a week is working for me. But when I started I actually started with one day. I just went one day a week. I was like, okay, I just got to show up one day, that's it, once I've done my day, like I'm done, and I just had to do that every week. That is still being consistent. Okay, so this is from definitions from my body. Okay, so this is from definitions from Oxford languages.
Speaker 1:Consistency is consistent behaviour or treatment. So consistency doesn't mean it has to be done. Daily Doesn't mean it's weekly. It doesn't mean that it's it's consistency doesn't mean that it's just daily. Consistency means it could be weekly, monthly, quarterly, yearly. That is consistent. I'm not saying go to the gym once a year and be like, oh, I'm so consistent at gym, I go once a year. That is probably stretching it just a little bit, but once a week is still consistent. So once you've worked up the once a week, go again. Then the next week go again, and then you'll be like, oh, I've been going once a week for a month, that is consistent. But then when you're like, ok, I feel like I got up to two, like I'm feeling confident, up to two, go two times a week. Do that, keep doing that for a month and then, if you want to go three, up to three. Now I've gone what? Four months now, and I probably went one time a week for like a month and then the rest of it now is two times a week. So I've been doing this for like three weeks now. I've been going twice a week and look at the complete difference I've had. I'm four months in and I'm a completely different attitude towards the gym.
Speaker 1:Now, remember, in one of my previous episodes I said try things three times. Do that with a gym. Try it three times before you fully ride it off. Even if it's a new gym and you're like, I don't know, I'm not sure about it. Try it three times Because first of all, you want to feel comfortable at the gym, but you've got three different moods and those moods can dictate. You don't want to like snap, you don't want to like make an impulse decision just based off like one mood, because you've had like a shitty day or because you felt a little bit flat that day, or something like that Like try it three times and see if it will change your opinion, and then the rest is history, because, who knows, you might try it three times, you might hate it. You might try it three times, you might love it. But just try it three times before you ride it off. I don't really have any, I guess.
Speaker 1:I guess I'll give you some journaling prompts. You know what? I'll give you some affirmations and I'll give you some journaling prompts. So the affirmations are I'm learning to be more confident at the gym. I'm allowing myself the space to choose different. I'm going to choose different. I understand the positive outcomes are possible and you know what I love going to gym. Just because we need to have like one, that's like I love going to gym. Yeah, now the journaling prompts would be what? Why do I feel anxious going to the gym? And if it's a one-sensor, keep asking yourself why. So if you're like because I feel anxious going to the gym and you're just like really not into the exercise. Keep asking yourself why, until you get to like a deeper, deeper meaning. It could be social, it could be personal experiences. It could be because you went to the gym and you did fall over and you were really embarrassed and you never wanted to go back again. Like, just really like write about that.
Speaker 1:What limiting beliefs do I have towards gym? So do you think that everyone's going to be looking at you? Do you not know what you're doing? Do you feel like you don't feel confident? You are scared of all the big machines. You're scared of everyone at the gym. That was definitely me for a little bit. I was definitely scared of all, because I literally went to like a female only gym and then I went to a male and female like a mixed gym and going from female only to mixed was just like the biggest shock. I was like, oh my God, there's men, what am I doing? But now I'm just like, oh, this is fine, they're not as scary as what I thought.
Speaker 1:Then reframe those limiting beliefs to make them positive. So this is where I'm reframing them to like saying I'm learning to be more confident at the gym or I am learning to not be afraid of all the big Sorry, we don't use knots, I'm learning to feel confident on the big machines and then write down a step. You feel comfortable with the gym, so with going to the gym, so, whether it's like finding a challenge, finding a friend, just signing up and going by yourself. If you feel like this podcast has like completely changed your perception on gym, that you can now just go Like go and yeah, go like sign up, go, do a trial by yourself, just one actionable step towards going to the gym that you feel like you can take, write that down and then the next step, the next. It's not a prompt, it's a step Doing it, doing what you just wrote and thinking those positive reframes, those positive reframes, thinking those and then just doing it.
Speaker 1:Anyway, today's episode has been a complete whim.
Speaker 1:I, as I said, I went to the gym and I was like really proud of myself and I really want, like you guys, to feel the same. I really want you to feel the exact same as I felt at the gym and it is possible Like I'm living proof of the fact that you can go from being like so anxious at the gym to being not anxious at all, and that's why I like filmed this, because I was like, that's why I recorded this, because it's like I just want to share that with people, and if one person resonates that all that matters to me. And as long as one person can like change their perspective of gym and get going, then that's like that makes me so happy. So, if you are like a person that that happens to, please, please, please, please, message me, because I will feel so proud and I'll be like your biggest hype girl, because that is just amazing and you can do this. By the way, like I'm as I said, I'm living proof.
Speaker 1:I used to be so anxious about the gym and I can like get friends on here If you, if you're like nah, so if I don't believe you, I can get people to vouch for that. Like there are definitely people that know how anxious I was, and then I just decided I was like no, I'm going to do this, and you can make those choices too. You can choose to change your life. You can choose to think different, you can choose to be different and you can choose to be the things that you want to be, and you can choose to be fit, tone, strong. Whatever your goal is at gym. You can choose that. That can be yours, it is. You can make it your own reality. You've just got to choose to do it, and you don't have to go to the gym and be like an influencer. You just go and you just show up and you just do the things and you will feel amazing and maybe one day you'll start a podcast and go through your experience and then it motivates another person and there's this whole cycle that just goes on about everyone making podcasts about their experiences and I've definitely gone up that big.
Speaker 1:Anyway, please go Chuck us a follow at Sophstorm on Instagram and also, if you're interested, I have a Wisdom Wednesday weekly email. That is just pretty much all that I'm feeling. It's got the podcast reminders in there too. So if you're someone that doesn't go on the podcast apps like wherever you find your podcast this is a great place to get a reminder that the podcast is out. So it will be there. Have a little spill of what's going on in the episode.
Speaker 1:You can be like, yeah, that sounds like something I want to listen to and then listen to it. Or you can be like, no, I don't want to listen to that. Fine, but at least the email would have some juiciness in it and you can be like mm. Life lesson learnt from that. Just that email. And also, please, please, please, leave me a review if you're loving this podcast so far, because they are the things that make people listen.
Speaker 1:And, as I said, it's like I'm definitely someone who goes and reviews people because I'm like I want people to know that I like this person, definitely someone that goes and tells people that I like their stuff and that they're doing a good job. So spread the love and, yeah, please give me a review of you if it's honest and truthful and all of the things and you love it. Please, please, do it and I'll appreciate you forever. Anyway, I'm definitely waffling on now, so I'm going to go before I start talking about all sorts of other stuff, but I hope you've had a really good day or night or whatever time you're listening right now, like morning, I don't know when you're listening, but I hope your day is great and I look forward to the next episode. See ya. Production.