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The one with the selfie

We had snow this weekend. It was lovely and fluffy and made my winter-loving heart very happy. On Saturday morning, a friend who lives 25 minutes away text and mentioned how she wished we lived closer. I told her: "Lest you think I'm cozied up with coffee and blankets and pancakes, this is what I'm doing." And proceeded to text her a photo of me leaving the gym. 

I had just left Orange Theory and was outside in 25 degree weather, in a tank top, and tried to quickly (and discreetly) snap a selfie to send to my friend. 

Except as I snapped the photo, I heard, "Girl, you killed that workout. Way to make it happen in the snow! Document that shit!"

At first, I felt the shame of being caught taking the selfie, and then their words registered. They weren't selfie shaming me. They were CHEERING for me. 

I was struck by a few emotions immediately after this encounter. The first being genuine happiness. I had the biggest grin on my face and their comments put a pep in my step, for SURE. But I also felt taken aback by how wrong I was by assuming they would have judged me or laughed at me. Am I so accustomed to hearing judgement or sneers instead of cheers? 

The whole day I kept thinking about them. They made an impact on my day and even later that evening when I recounted the story to friends, I couldn't wipe the silly grin off my face. 

I loved that they cheered for me. I want to be someone who cheers more often than not. 

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