I don't know why but I've been afraid to try out our apartment's gym. There is one on each floor and I think it's generally empty. But for whatever reason I get anxious at the thought of going in there. I don't know if I'm truly afraid or I'm just allowing my anxiety to be an excuse to stay home and do nothing. Either way I could use some support and accountability.

So I need some encouragement. I want to get my butt in there sometime this week and get over my strange fear/laziness.

Leah, I'm not a 20-something but I happened to see this and wanted to write, because I had the exact same thing happen when I was in grad school. For whatever reason, I had a complete block about using the tiny gym in my building. It was small, usually empty, and unattractively fluorescently lit. It felt like a prison somehow (the drama!). I made myself put on the clothes, grab music/headphones, and told myself if I go in and use each machine for 3-5 minutes, that's enough. (there were 3 cardio-type machines and 3 nautilus machines). Every time, I had to tell myself that to get my butt in that gym. And every time, I stayed far longer than that. Somehow giving myself permission to just "try it" or have a mini-workout helped me.

Just my .02

Go - but just to have a look around and see what it's like You can work out next time.
(Ooh, and maybe they nice extras, like saunas? )

its 100% anxiety.... everyone who goes to a gym is there to better themselves, the quicker you take on a don't give a s**t attitude the better you will feel when you go in. How can someone make fun of a fat person in the gym when they are there to do something about it? How can you make fun of a nervous person in the gym, when they are there to boost confidence and feel better about themselves?

Our local gym used to have this woman who was 400lbs+ she was the sweatiest person there and people did watch her, but it was in pure amazement as she worked harder than any person in there.

You can do it! just take one day at a time and you will start to see that there is nothing to be scared about. Everyone is in their own little zone.