“I’ve fallen in love with working out fairly recently. Right before Covid hit I graduated and started my job as a nurse. All of a sudden I had all this free time, because there’s no more work for school after hours. I caught myself becoming a couch potato and needed to put a stop to that. I started doing research, trained with a friend who is also really into sports and found a diet that worked well for me.
I wasn’t overweight or anything. I just wanted my body to be stronger and healthier because being a nurse really takes a toll on your body. It has made me very aware that, if I want to keep doing this job until I retire, I’ll have to take good care of myself. 

Back problems are becoming a serious problem among health workers. So you’d think we’d be encouraged to work out and build a better core. Sadly, quite the opposite is true. When you get your yearly check-up and tell the doctor you’re experiencing some back pain, they’ll move you to an office job. Which is obviously no solution. To make matters worse, people go from a highly active job (lifting heavy people, walking around all day, etc.) to a sedentary job, but probably won’t cut back on calories or anything. So not only will your core get weaker, you’ll gain some weight too. 

I’m really grateful I started this journey of living a fitter and healthier life. But it took a toll on my personal relationships. My boyfriend didn’t really support me. Wasn’t cheering me on. Gave nasty comments when I tried to eat more vegetables and less meat. I needed someone to take the journey with me and be proud of me. If you’re evolving so much and your environment doesn’t, you grow apart. Of course there were other reasons we didn’t work out. But this lack of support and growth definitely played a big part. Don’t get me wrong. It was hard to let that relationship go. I loved him very deeply and we had a good time. But it was time to put myself, my happiness and my health first.”