I’ve never been so great at taking care of myself. Don’t get me wrong – I tend to do kind of what I want to do, but sometimes that means that I end up in a place I don’t want to be. I might gain weight, I might be tired, I might overextend myself. The best thing that I ever treated myself to? Going to spin class almost every day.
You learn a lot about yourself when you start working out. And if you know me, you know that I’m really great at starting working out and I never follow through. I give up. I decide that it’s not working or it’s not worth it. That is, until lately. I’ve finally found something that I love.
If you follow me on InstaStories, you’ve seen that I’ve been going to the CycleBar Red Mill on an (almost) daily basis since October 31, 2018. I’d been debating about how I wanted to share it, because it’s made a crazy awesome impact on me, my workflow, my anxiety, and just life in general since I started going. I’ve learned a lot about myself, my fitness (or lack there of)… but more than anything, I think I’ve learned about how to work hard for what you want, and not to give up when you feel like you don’t have anything left to give. Let me explain.
You guys know if you’ve followed along on my journey that I’ve lost weight, I’ve gained it, and I’ve attempted to lose it about 50 times in the last three years. Being an entrepreneur that works from home is HARD. There’s snacks everywhere, man. It’s a daily struggle to not eat all of the Doritos and soda. Some days I do. Others, I don’t. There was a day, though, that I said to myself that I’d finally go to CycleBar Red Mill with Emily Miller and Sara Barca, and that day was October 31, 2018.
It was really, REALLY hard. I have been out of shape for a while, and I had a super hard time with keeping up. In fact, looking back at my stats that day, I pretty much didn’t keep up at all. Susan taught the class (she’s one of the awesome instructors there), and I remember being super welcomed and I asked all the questions, looked at other people’s stats, and realized that I finished last in the class. I wasn’t surprised.
Some people might take that as discouraging. The reality of the situation? I knew where I was at when it came to fitness – I wasn’t fit at all. I’d gained a ton of weight, I never exercised, I’d attempted to hike and bike ride all over my neighborhood and go to the Y, and I never stuck with it, so why would I come and kill this class?
A friend of mine said that they didn’t believe I’d go more than a week. Then it was two weeks. Then a month. They used it as a motivator, because they knew that I love to prove people wrong. And now, here we are, three months later, and I’ve gone 64 times in 3 months. That’s SO MANY times. Today? Today I signed a membership for a year.
That’s not what this blog post is about, though. I know that was a lot of information just to get to the point, but what I really want to talk about? Growth. I want to talk about what it’s like to get down on yourself. I want to talk about how it really feels when you start proving yourself and everyone else wrong.
Here are my stats from my first class. They aren’t great. In fact, they’re downright abysmal compared to where I’m at today.
I wasn’t fast. I was using barely any resistance. Truth be told, I sweat more than I ever had at any workout. Like I said, I was the last in the class that day. Instead of letting that defeat me, though, I took to making goals for myself. They were small goals, but they were attainable.
The next class, I wanted to burn over 300 calories. I did. The class after that, I wanted my average watt to be over 100. It was. After that, I wanted to go faster, so I did. Then eventually I just didn’t want to be last – and I wasn’t.
What felt like a mountain at that first class – just wanting to be good at something, wanting to lose weight, wanting to “get fit”, wanting to be better – turned into attainable goals. Here’s the crucial thing: once I met those goals, I made new ones.
One of the other things I did? I posted my stats almost every class. Not to brag – I wanted to hold myself accountable. I wanted to see how far I’d come. It was important to me to see that everything that I was doing was leading onto a new and better goal.
Here’s the thing about CycleBar, though. The staff there is nothing short of incredibly encouraging. All the instructors are awesome – they interact with you, get to know you, sometimes they’ll play your favorite songs. The riders there get to know you. People pay attention – they see your progress, they see how far you’ve come. Class yesterday was amazing. I had some of the best stats I ever had. I finished 4th in a race, which is a big deal for me. Oh yeah, here’s where I’m at today.
Do you see the difference? I could’ve given up. I could’ve decided that I didn’t want to do it, that it was too hard, that it wasn’t worth it. Have I lost a ton of weight? About 10 pounds. It’s not that much, but that’s because I’m still drinking soda and eating whatever I want (that’s a story for another day, when I tell you all about the Dragon diet). It’s about tracking progress.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m still making new goals. I still want those numbers to be higher and I want to be better. The key? I’m not giving up. I’m still going.
The same goes for business. That’s where this all comes full circle. People will get you down. There will be naysayers. You’ll get yourself down because you know that you aren’t where you could be. It’s making those strong, attainable goals, however small they may be, achieving them, and then deciding that you want to be even better than that – that’s what makes you successful at anything.
Surround yourself with the people that will encourage you, that will build you up, that won’t kick you when you’re down but instead will kick you into high gear. These are the people that make being a friend, business owner, partner, parent worthwhile.
CycleBar Red Mill has taught me a lot of things about life, and even more things about myself. I’m not really anxious anymore – I expend all that bad energy there. I manage my time better. I understand the importance of fostering every single relationship I have – even the ones that I only see for a couple of minutes before and after class. The best thing it’s taught me though? Not to give up.
So for you, the one that needs to hear this today about something in your life – business, working out, losing weight, being a decent parent – whatever it is: Make those tiny little attainable goals. Then exceed them. After that, you can really grow and be better.
If that doesn’t work? Join me at spin class. It’s crazy how one thing can totally change your outlook on everything – including yourself and your abilities. It’s about changing your mindset. Because, yes you can.
So good, Missy! Woot woot, you go girl! ?