Fitness Flipped Podcast Week 3: All About Authenticity
It’s time to unpack your metaphorical suitcase to find your sense of self.
By Colleen Travers•
When it comes to your health, it’s not just the physical that matters. What’s happening emotionally is just as important and can play a part in how you approach your fitness and life. That’s what this week’s episodes of Fitness Flipped are all about. Sociologist Tressie McMillan Cottom and actor Sterling K. Brown talk with Peloton instructor and podcast host Tunde Oyeneyin about the importance of self-expression and why living your most authentic life is essential to your happiness with yourself and others. Then, Member and founder of the #BooCrew Tyler Moses shares his journey to achieve just that.
Read on for a sneak peek into this week’s Fitness Flipped episodes.
It’s Time for a Baggage Check
Think of your sense of self as a suitcase. It’s filled with your past, family history, culture and more. But you don’t have to keep it stuffed exactly the way you received it indefinitely. “The suitcase we’re born with is not the one we have to die with,” Cottom says. “The human experience is unpacking that bag and trading out the pieces that don’t work with ones that do.” This is how the process of self-expression works, and it’s an idea that can (and should) change constantly. Cottom shares exactly how to unpack that suitcase and stop the notion of performativity—the act of only showing one safe side of yourself to the rest of the world.
Self-Expression Is a Superpower
Cottom says to find out who you really are, you need to drop the curtain between your back stage (your beliefs and how you feel) and your front stage (how you think people want or expect you to act, feel and believe). When you do this, you’ll find there’s a collective group who feels the same way you do. And once you tap into that, together you can impact positive change in the world. “You can’t be a good person for other people until you’re honest about who you are,” says Cottom.
Tunde and Sterling K. Brown also share with each other how listening to their intuition and making impractical choices on how to express themselves has ultimately helped them live happier, more truthful lives. (Psst! Fitness can help with this. Brown explains how.)
You Belong Anywhere and Everywhere
Being fully expressive and authentic is a key to health and wellness. That’s because it feels good and makes you want to make healthy choices for yourself. “I want to be a living example of someone who shows up for themselves,” says Brown. “Not because I'm awesome, but because we're awesome. And if you can see it in me, if I can see it in you, then hopefully other people can see it in themselves.” The secret to this is making sure you’re not limiting yourself simply because the world thinks you only fit in one box.
You can go—and feel—beyond the scope of the suitcase you’ve been given. That’s exactly what Member Tyler Moses learned as found the courage to choose himself and live his authentic life as a gay man in the South. He shares his inspiring journey to self-expression, including the bumps along the way, with Tunde.