Courtney's Story
WE THINK IT’S TIME TO CHANGE THE NARRATIVE ABOUT FITNESS AND OUR TEAM IS SHARING THEIR STORIES TO HELP YOU CHANGE YOURS!
THIS IS THE STORY OF Courtney, who’s our CEO and Founder, A member of our management Team, and a Group fitness, Zumba & Kickboxing instructor
“For nearly my entire life, I believed the story we are all sold. As a woman, fat was the worst thing I could be. To have worth I needed to be thin, have a flat stomach, and be seen as beautiful by others.
I spent years guilting myself for enjoying food. I tried to hate my body into submission. I tried extreme diets, cleanses, and punishing my body through tough workouts. I obsessed about pounds gained, pounds lost, what body parts jiggled and how my thighs looked when I sat down.
Fitness meant hard work, discipline, determination and will power. It showed the rest of the world that you had WON the battle with your body. That you were “better” because you had figured it all out. Something to be admired because it meant sacrifice and control.Through my journey of becoming a Zumba instructor and fitness professional, I realized how much this story hurts us.
I was shown by some incredible women what it meant to find joy through dancing and moving your body. Which opened the door to discover a new type of fitness, one rooted in acceptance, love, and care or my body.
I learned what it meant to be able to connect with your strength and the incredible feeling you get from embracing physical challenge.
Fitness to me is about self-care and mental health. It is a tool to manage my anxiety and the big feelings I feel. It allows me to show up in my life to be the best version of myself, to spend time focusing on all the things I can do with my body and in my life, rather than how it looks.
It is about sweat, laughter, testing limits, expressing emotions, time with myself, time in my community, and self-discovery. It’s about making memories and creating experiences.
My body isn’t my enemy anymore. It no longer defines me.
And it feels pretty f*cking great.”
