Among women who lift, this deep internal change appears to be common. Yet it is often missing from mainstream conversations about fitness, which focus on how our bodies look instead of how we feel in them. Like many women, writer Casey Johnston, 37, was “pursuing hotness” when she began strength training 10 years ago. Her purpose shifted quickly as she began to feel “completely different” in her body, an awareness she seeks to share with other women in She’s A Beast, a newsletter that demystifies strength training for 33,000 subscribers. She’s writing a book, Lifted, about the “surprising impact on mental, physical and spiritual health” of strength training. When she’s asked how lifting weights has changed her, most people expect her to talk about physical strength or discipline, she tells me. But “it just completely changed everything about how I feel and think,” she says.