Changing for Ourselves

by becca watts

Change begins with you.

The time spent in quarantine allowed sophomore Maddie Tobbe to think about what she wanted for herself.

Over the summer in quarantine, Tobbe decided it was time to reinvent herself. By working out, Tobbe was able to find something that made her happy in stressful situations. With her friends by her side while she sought after her goal, Tobbe lost 30 pounds and gained muscle.

Tobbe has always been a person who has been caring and considerate. “Maddy is the most caring, passionate, strong and opinionated person I’ve ever known, and I wouldn’t want to change any of those things about her. We’ve been friends since seventh grade and she has taught me so much about myself and about exploring and seeing the world and people differently. She has had hard times but we pushed through them together,” sophomore Sydney Hughes said.

Tobbe doesn’t let negative things like sadness or fear hold her down, instead she uses it to help push her forward. When she falls down you should be ready to see her get back up and run. “I decided that I am ready for a change and needed to stop feeling sorry for myself. I realized that if you wanna see a change, it’s up to you,” Tobbe said.

During quarantine, Tobbe came to the realization that she had been feeling low on energy and sad so she decided that something needed to be done and that something had to change. Working out was never something she really liked to do so when she first started her journey through change, she thought it was going to be miserable but quickly learned that it made her happy and took away her stress.

During her journey, she watched videos, worked out with her friends and learned that it’s all in what you eat. Tobbe had a great support system in her friends as she changed for herself. They would workout together and motivate each other. Sophomores Kaitlyn Schoenbachler and Hughes would workout with Tobbe and motivate her on days she didn’t feel like going to the gym. Schoenbachler and Tobbe shared exchanged healthy food alternatives.

Along with workout and healthy food habits, Tobbe and the girls boxed, “we do all kinds of workouts. We do arms, legs, core and tons of cardio. The main workout that really has helped us is boxing. Boxing has helped us get our anger and stress out of our minds and helps us to cope with things and it’s so much fun to do. We are always the only ones in the room and it’s so much fun,” Hughes said.

When times got tough, the girls were always there to support one another and motivate each other to continue working out. “We would just make it fun, dance it out, let all of our emotions out, tell each other we got this and remind each other of what we want,” Schoenbachler said. celebrities in order to seem ‘perfect’ so we strive to look the same. Changing yourself to fit the societal norm for beauty will get you nowhere because if you’re not changing for yourself you’re changing for nothing. True beauty cannot be defined as a number on a scale. Everyone is beautiful, they just haven’t learned to defog the glass to see their beauty better. Changing for the right reason is something the girls live by. “I’m extremely body positive. I believe everybody is beautiful no matter what. The number on the scale doesn’t mean anything. We are in a world where unless we cross everything off the list, we ‘aren’t beautiful’. Everyone is beautiful, and everyone has different taste. You can’t make everyone like you so everything that you do to change, do it for yourself. We all have to learn to love ourselves. I was beautiful before I lost weight and after,” Tobbe said.

If you are wanting to make a change for yourself, the girls encourage you to do so but keep in mind that it won’t always be easy. “Do it. It’s hard and uncomfortable at times but you feel so much more alive but please make sure you do it healthy and make sure you do it for the right reasons. You are gorgeous no matter what anyone thinks or says and you are enough,” Schoenbachler said.