Amber Says Fitness Builds Self-Compassion: "I'm Learning to Love My Body Instead of Hating It"

"The biggest bummer comes in the language used. Most competitions, teams, and workouts are gendered," Amber said. And unless you find a space that is aware of the negative impact of using gendered language in class, it sucks to be the person to point out their mistakes and blindspots. "That's exhausting work. So is being misgendered over and over again," they said.

"As an LGBTQ+ educator, I have the confidence and ability to know how to advocate for myself in ways that help folks learn and hopefully make the space more inclusive for the next transgender or nonbinary person who comes to a class. But it's still a heavy lift," they said. And they added that lifting physically heavy sh*t helps them lift the emotionally heavy sh*t.