With the (cough, cough stupid, cough) New Year’s resolutions around the corner, it’s a good time to talk about change. For those that choose to make resolutions that are intentioned to kick in on January one, let’s talk about change. (And if you want a convo regarding the ‘cough, cough stuipd’ remark - that’s a whole ‘nother post.) For now, let’s address making a resolution because you want to see some change.
Change is give and take. But in the moment, it feels like only give. You give and you give and you give and it seems like seventy years go by before you get to take anything away from all your giving.
But….(oh there’s a but? What is with this Fit Team and their buts? What can we say? We like to point out buts and we cannot lie) is it possible, that when you think you are doing all the giving and taking no things it’s because you’re waiting to take something bigger? Maybe you are taking things, but little things. Small, almost imperceptible things. Things maybe no one else notices and if you don’t think about them, you might not notice them either. But when you stop and think about it, there are little changes??
On the fitness spectrum, it seems like the results of change are a three-legged turtle. Slow and hobbling. Notice we phrased that “it SEEMS like….” because as people who look at you from the other side of things, we see your changes often quicker than you do. Then again, we aren’t waiting for some big change. Some wild grand reveal like a home renovation show finale. No, we’re looking for the little signs and tells that say change is happening. On the inside first (because that’s where change starts.)
We watch as you start, often with trepidation and hesitation and slowly become more comfortable. We may even catch you smiling during a class as that trepidation starts to lose traction and confidence pulls into the parking lot. We watch as you move from anything-comes-before-fitness-class (haircut, root canal, sneezed two times in a row, dog sneezed two times in a row, literally anything) to the point where you’re sharing with the group what you have waiting for you to do after class. But after. Class came first. We see that. We notice as you start to mingle with other people in class. You start arriving at a certain time. You carve out a “spot” for yourself where you feel most comfortable.
And this whole time, you’re going home each day looking in the mirror “waiting” for change. But babe, it’s happening.
We don’t spend our whole days with you because - restraining order - but we’re willing to bet somewhere along the way your energy level has come up a bit. Your stats on your fitness tracker look a little different than when you first walked in. Your eyes have a little more sparkle. And you’re still waiting for the mirror reflection to change but if we could only get you to see yourself the way we do you would see it. You would see you are giving but you are gaining takeaways too.
This is why we use the phrase, “I’m so proud of you” so often. Do you hear us say that? We’re not just picking boosting phrases out of the sky. We don’t say things that we think we’re supposed to in the name of filling silence. We play music in our classes. The silence is filled with the sounds of Bon Jovi or the Jonas Brothers. We don’t need to puff out nonsense over our carefully cultivated playlists. If we’re choosing to use words, they’re intentional. And if say we’re proud of you - you can bet your behind that we 100% mean it.