“Exercise is like an addiction. Once you’re in it, you feel like your body needs it” -Elsa Pataky.

Since the summer of my freshman year of highschool, I found a new hobby that I’ve loved ever since. Going to the gym has been apart of my daily routine for over a year now.

After middle school my main goal was to lose weight. I accomplished this goal fairly easily by following a healthy diet and being active. Even though I lost weight, I became too scrawny, and all my friends were stronger than me. I soon became motivated to start lifting weights. In about a month from that realization, I got my first gym membership.

Ever since my first day going, I found a lot of pleasure in it, and have been consistently in the gym almost everyday. The gym takes my mind off all the worries in life, and lets me focus on the most important thing, myself.

My first day in the gym was not a walk in the park. I had gone with a couple of kids who had been going for years already. They were much stronger than me and this lowered my confidence. But, I became even more motivated, because I knew if I listened to them, I could one day reach my goals.

After a couple of weeks, I only looked forward to going to the gym. My daily plans would revolve around it, and I would only want to be there. That was the point in my life that I knew iI fell in love with it.

Working out makes me happy, and overall positively boosts my mood and attitude about the day. I learned that the gym lets me focus on myself for a few hours, and this impacts me out of the gym. When I am finished, I feel better about myself and this increases my happiness.

My confidence and self esteem increase greatly when I know that I had a successful workout. I believe that all exercise can aid a person’s mental health for the better and decrease their worries about life. Being in the gym reduces my stress levels and takes my mind off the rest of the world.

If you are a generally a shy person, the gym can help you better your social skills. I think that the gym can help create strong friendships between people. Over the years, I have made many new friends while working out. Some people give me advice on something I should change with my workout, this sparks conversation and the shared interests we both have about the gym keeps the conversation going. Since my freshman year, many new friendships arose from the different gyms I’ve been a member of.

I can conclude that the gym has changed me for the better. My body image has increased immensely. I have made many new friends. I have become better at making conversation with new people. My confidence and self esteem levels have risen. And in general, I have been more happy with my life.