Life Lessons Learned at the Gym, Part 1

I do not, in general, love to exercise. Despite this, I unerstand that I need exercise. I need the clarity it brings to my otherwise fuzzy brain. I need the time to take a few deep breaths in, and remind myself how beautiful life is {even on days when all I've done is clean up poop & 28 cups of spilled juice, and the kids who created the poop & spills}. I need the strength it gives me to run and play with the above mentioned poopers and spillers, and I want to not be quite so jiggly in a swimsuit...so, I peel myself away from my life once a day {minus Sundays} to dance, strength train, or run {actually, run is a really strong word – I am a jogger at best!} I have FINALLY after years of searching found a form of exercise that I actually, truly enjoy, while I am doing it. I’m not going to tell you about it yet…but I’ll give you a little hint: it starts with a Z and ends with umba. I had some major life epiphanies while shaking it with a bunch of sweaty ladies a few weeks ago, and will tell you all about it {aren’t you excited?!} in my next segment of “Life Lessons Learned at the Gym”.

But for today, here’s a little flashback of insight I gained last year between fastpaced sets of mountain climbers and lunges:

Every week, the masses flock to the Lori's Ultimate Conditioning class. We line up in the hallway awaiting the moment we can make a mad dash to set up our station with weights, a mat, a step, a band, a medicine ball if the workout requires it that day... And then chat until Lori takes her place at the front of the class. She steps up with her spikey hair, itsy bitsy shorts, and rippled physique ready to push us to our limits. {I'm pretty sure we all attempt to do exactly what she says, hoping that someday, our bodies might, in the slightest, resemble hers.}

Every week, it's a new workout. Something totally different. Always taxing. Always sweat inducing. Always high intensity. And always exactly what we needed. During the class, Lori will instruct us over, and over again that quality is more important than quantity. She constantly coaches us that, if we can

"only get 5 of the 8 reps in, but those five are awesome -- then great! I'd rather have you do five right, then 8 that are crap. Don't worry about what your neighbor is going to think if you can't do them all - because TRUST ME - they don't care what you're doing, they're too busy worrying about what they're doing!"

I've heard this every week for the last four months, and the magnitude of it just hit me yesterday. It's soooo true! How often do we try to do it all - just because we're worried about what people will think if we don't? How often do we think that every move we make, is being scrutinized by others, who really, truthfully, honestly, don't care nearly as much as we think they do.

The world really doesn't revolve around us. Our world might, but the rest of the world does not revolve around our mis-matched children, our shortcomings, our failures. I think I've spent a lot of my life fretting, worrying, and aiming to impress, when really, the only person who cares, or who is affected, is me. I am finally happy, fulfilled and excited about living my “five-rep” life! I am giving it my all, enjoying my story, and reveling in the beauty of my five reps instead of beating myself up over missing the last three.

So, the moral of Lori’s life lesson is to: Live your life - FOR YOU! For your kids, for your husband - for the people who matter in YOUR life... and not for the people you think are watching, or judging, or scrutinizing. They're too busy trying to live their life to really care.
Have a fabulous, fret-free day!

And thanks to Lori for the sore muscles, and the validation to live my "five-rep" life!