How did I end up here?
Sometimes it’s nice to know a bit more about a person, and so without wanting to write an autobiography, I thought I’d let you in on a bit more about my exercise past. A lot of exercise professionals have always been active and involved in sport and exercise, but not me. So how did I get here?
As a child, I would hate PE. I was not proficient; in fact PE teachers rated me pretty useless at school! I was small and puny; I did dance classes and that was it. Come university that began to change. My catalyst for beginning regular exercise was a relationship break-up in third year, and I started running.
As I started work, I kept running, but it was on and off and there was no variation in the exercise I was doing. Then six years ago, along came my future husband. Two things he loved doing; marathon running and weight training, both of which I’d always regarded as boring, ridiculous and completely uninteresting!
The long distance running got me first. For the first time I discovered I had a competitive nature buried within me. And as I started upping the distance I discovered a new-found respect for my body that wasn’t anything to do with my appearance. I was impressed by its ability to persist, to cope with challenge, to change its shape to suit the demands I was putting on it.
My second exercise evolution was about four years ago. I was a seasoned exerciser by this point, and was happy to try new things. Weight training stopped being so boring and I discovered a sense of empowerment in lifting; I learnt about its positive effects on my bones and my joints and my muscles. I liked walking into the ‘MALE’ area. I loved the big improvements I was seeing.
At the same time, I was becoming bored by what I was doing at school (as a chemistry teacher). I figured out pretty quickly that I was not interested in promotion in that line; neither the lifestyle nor the change in duties appeal at all. I love being in the classroom and teaching people; helping people leaving the classroom feeling ‘I can’! But I was doing nothing new, and fitness was becoming a more active, non-negotiable and exciting part of my life.
"Having started at 22, in 20+ years time, will I be proud of myself if I stay in the same safe, secure job?"
The change came when I got married a year ago. I’d been thinking about it for over a year, and I found myself asking the question ‘having started at 22, in 20+ years time, will I be proud of myself if I stay in the same safe, secure job?’. The answer, for me, was no. Never taking a risk, never trying anything else, I think I would look back and regret that. I believe individual's need to keep learning, to grow, change and morph into a person you never thought you'd become. A better version of you. And that’s when I signed up for my PT course!
Have any of you made any big life changes, be that in career, home, family etc.? How did you get past the ‘fear factor’ of making the big change?
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