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Can You Be Active Without Being Athletic

Unless you look a certain way, you’ll never be considered active

Kaitlyn Varin
5 min readFeb 3, 2022
Photo by Gemma Chua-Tran on Unsplash

What does the word “active” mean?

In the world of online dating, “active” always makes me hesitate. It’s the most common answer to “looking for . . .” usually filled in with “an active partner to do activities with.” If the profile features photos of an athletic-looking man rock climbing, mountain biking, or skiing/snowboarding, I always hit the ‘X.’ The jury is still out on whether I could be ‘an active partner,’ but I know I don’t climb, bike, or downhill ski.

If I wanted to attract one of these men, maybe I’d add photos of myself at races, practicing yoga, or hiking on the local trails. Perhaps I’d answer the same “looking for. . . .” prompt with “a match for my weekly active endeavours.” But, can I identify as active, let alone athletic?

Until I started looking for a real connection, it was easy to meet people online.

Here’s the thing I’ve been thinking about a lot lately, I’m currently running three times a week and attending at least two physically-demanding yoga classes on top of my daily personal practice. How am I not active? I get my ambiguous 10,000 steps a day, or a better indicator of physical fitness…

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Kaitlyn Varin
Kaitlyn Varin

Written by Kaitlyn Varin

Kaitlyn is a yogi, yoga teacher, runner, writer, and book worm. She writes about health and wellness, self-improvement, food, books, and life.

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