Even the most fit, healthy people on earth suffer from gym jealousy: It's that feeling of always thinking you could be more healthy, and it strips you of all the well-deserved pride you should take in just showing up to work out in the first place. The comforting truth is this this: If you've ever felt competitive and jealous over someone else's healthy lifestyle, or found yourself having negative thoughts about your own body at the gym, you're not some kind of green-juiced monster. You're just human.
Ironically, it's often true that nobody understands feelings of self-doubt more than the most confident person in the room, which is why Orange is the New Black star Danielle Brooks posted this post-gym video on Instagram this week. In the video, she discusses comparing herself to another woman at the gym whose fit physique made her think that she should cover up her own body....that is, before she caught herself and realized she was being way too critical.
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"So I realized I'm comparing myself to this woman," Brooks says in the video. She goes on to break down the self-talk she uses to combat those negative thoughts: "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."
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It's comforting to know that the video has over 120K views so far, with comments pouring in to say things like, "this made me cry" and "thanks for the self love inspiration today, I needed it." We all need to be reminded that doing our best is what's important, right?
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Danielle's Instagram is filled with body-positive inspiration, as well as a lot of butt-kicking gym videos to get you motivated to get up and go. But Brooks clearly demonstrates that good health goes way beyond a good body. As an actress, model, and public speaker, she's more than qualified to speak on the importance of self-love to success. As she tells us in her video, sometimes succeeding is as simple as saying, "They look good and so do I."
