Feeling confident at the gym can sometimes be difficult; when you're surrounded by fitness gurus and circuit experts, it's easy to doubt yourself, but Orange Is the New Black's Danielle Brooks just shared an important message that puts everything in perspective. Our beloved "Taystee" recently took to Instagram, sharing a post-workout video [1] recounting her experience of feeling self-conscious at the gym, with an important message about comparing yourself to others.
In the video below, Danielle talks about feeling totally confident at the gym with her shirt off, but those feelings immediately disappeared when she saw another woman who made her doubt herself and want to put her shirt back on. It made her realize how she was being way too hard on herself and that comparing yourself to other people is not only unrealistic, but it's detrimental to your well-being.
I had to check in with myself real quick. Hope someone out there feels me. 💪🏾#voiceofthecurves [2]
"So I have my shirt off and this lady walks in," Danielle says, before explaining that this woman was in incredible shape, also with her shirt off. "Immediately, I'm like, 'Oh no.' I started to lose my confidence."
After her positive body image thoughts dwindled from the mere sight of this other woman, Danielle wondered if she should put her shirt back on. Then it hit her that she was comparing herself to this other woman when she should only be comparing herself to herself.
"So I realized I'm comparing myself to this woman," she said. "And I'm like, 'Why just two minutes ago I was feeling great and now I'm not?' And I realized the reason I was feeling so great is because I was comparing myself to yesterday's Danielle. And today's Danielle is better than yesterday's. And that's why I felt so good.
"So ladies, I'm just saying, don't compare yourself to nobody. Just be a better you."
Fans have praised Danielle's honest and much-needed message. It's such an important reminder and officially our new pre-gym mantra!