Origins of a #reallifetrainer
Since it was my birthday last week, my awesome friend Holly got this tank top made for me and I thought it was a great time to explain my now famous (ok, not really!) hashtag.
Calling myself #reallifetrainer began as a joke almost a year ago when I started teaching my online classes from home. Whenever something unexpected happened I would just yell out "HASHTAG REAL LIFE TRAINER!" because it was funny and it totally fit the world we were all living in. Everyone was pretty much working from home during the first lockdown due to the Covid pandemic and we were all getting used to the challenges of doing our jobs from home.
For me, it was quite the change to go from training my clients and teaching classes in person to training and teaching online. On a whim I decided to do a Facebook Live on St. Patrick's Day 2020 for those who were already missing their workouts. Camera Angles? Lighting? Planning? Equipment? I'm not sure I thought of any of these things. I just wrote a workout, told everyone the time and jumped online. My kids even joined me on that first workout. Full disclosure, I was still super freaking nervous to do it.
Well, I quickly found out that unexpected things happen and things can go wrong. Sometimes the kids interrupt, someone makes loud noises in the background, equipment falls over or my iPad freezes, sometimes I forget which exercise comes next (yes, I'm human). One time after a cardio block, the light fell over on the cabinet behind me knocking the plant over which almost fell on my head. Another time the dog calmly walked up to me as I was doing an exercise on the mat and she burped right in my face. HASHTAG REAL LIFE TRAINER!
It didn't take long for me to discover these little moments are a part of me and everyday life. I'm actually glad they happen because I want people to see I'm just like them. Trainers don't have to be intimidating. None of us need to be perfect, we just need to be ourselves. Real life happens whether you can plan for it or not. It's how we deal with it that defines what we can learn or take from that experience. It's made me feel more like my authentic self than ever before. And let's be honest, many of these moments are hilarious and after my goal of improving everyone's health, a close second is to make them laugh.
Actually laughing at myself has become my new past time. With the obstacles and challenges of this year, it's healthy not to take ourselves too seriously. And if I've learned anything over the past 11 months (and probably my whole life) it's that being yourself will always bring you exactly where you need to be. I think I'll keep being a #reallifetrainer and I hope you will come join me for a workout soon and we can have a laugh together.
#onlineclasses #training #reallife #fun #online