Business casual turned athleisure

The last six months have been… WILD to say the least.

I made the decision over winter break of 2024 that it would be my last year of education. 13 years in, 2 out of 3 Masters in the field and… time to be done.

I didn’t chat with my co-librarian (one of my favorite people in the whole wide world) until the end of January, early February, because I needed to feel a bit more comfortable in the decision that it was time to be done.

Spoiler alert: it’s totally the right decision and I STILL have moments where I question every life decision I’ve ever made. So, comfort in this decision is what we call relative.

I created an LLC in March that I did absolutely nothing with until October (as in… now…) because I leaned in to growing my Pilates knowledge, as well as my personal training knowledge by working for a big-box gym. After a stint of “full-time” between these two businesses, I realized I’d much rather bet on myself. 

My dad owned his own firm. My grandfather built a business from the ground up with barely a high school degree. My mom continues to be an independent contractor (yes, she’s still working!). Moral of the story? I grew up understanding the value of working for yourself, of depending on yourself, of building for yourself.

So, here we are. In the slightly (read: completely) terrifying position of beginning my own fitness practice. I’ve dabbled with personal training as a side job in the past. Pilates, until the summer, was a second job. And in the blink of an eye, I’ve made both the backbone of keeping a roof over my and my daughter’s head, clothes on our backs, and food in our bellies.

Did I say terrifying? What I really mean is… have I lost my forking mind?

(Y’all know me - you know the real word in my head is certainly not, “forking”)

And, yet. As noted. Here we are.

I don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow, next month, next year, next whenever. All I can do is figure out today and hope for the best. And if I get the worst: what can I learn from it, so I can find that life of joy, growth, and… I don’t know, another word for good ish. (Again, replace words as you see fit, knowing that my mouth is one of a proverbial sailor.)

I tell my classes at the end of every class to thank their bodies for doing an exceptional job, to thank themselves for showing up - even if it’s a part of their routine, they showed up TODAY and that matters.

Time to start doing that for myself. Because I’m pretty hard on myself, even while having a pretty sizable ego. 

Go ahead and do it with me…

Thank yourself for being exceptional. Thank yourself for showing up in some way for you today (even if that simply means reading this little message and hopefully giving a small smile). Because guess what?

You are exceptional.