Saturday, November 09, 2013

Writer's block

I'm having a terrible time getting words onto paper (screen?) these days. For one thing, I keep reading essays by truly gifted writers, and when I read yet another fantastic piece, I'll think, "I'm just going to write "what she said" and post a link." And the other reason is that I have so many unanswered questions, such as "should I stick with Blogger or learn WordPress" and "why am I even writing in the first place" and "who am I to think I have anything to say"? (I can also get really hung up about not using punctuation correctly.) Since inertia (if you don't know everything, then do nothing) is oh so familiar to me, these questions leave me doing nothing.

This essay is an attempt to break the silence. To reject the inertia. To live in "I don't have to know everything in order to do anything." So on to today's topic: Working in the beauty industry.

As a personal trainer, you might think that I work in the fitness industry. But I think of myself as working more in the beauty industry, and at times working in the life-coaching industry.

What motivated me to get certified in the first place was a desire to help women live better lives. I believe with all my heart that as women, we live better when we feel at home in our bodies. And to feel at home in our bodies, we need to move and sweat and stretch and test our limits. This feeling at home in our bodies is not something that only women can benefit from. But generally speaking, boys and men are encouraged to be physical way more than the opposite gender.

Fitness as beauty shows up in many ways. For one thing, when you're in shape you have more energy and confidence, and despite what the media tells us, what's really sexy? Energy and confidence. Also when your body is fit, buying clothes becomes less of a "have to" and more of a "get to!" I believe that sweating makes your skin better. And feeling strong and flexible does much to improve your confidence (yep, we're back to confidence again, having come full circle).

The life coaching element comes in because you get to know someone intimately when you see them one-on-one for an hour, several times per week. This time is completely focused on what the client wants and needs, and is a perfect time to consider a problem from different angles. I love when I can help by being an accountability partner to one of my girls, many times in areas having nothing to do with fitness directly, but having everything to do with having a better life.

As always, thanks for "listening."

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

You made an excellent choice Leslie, because you have a lot to give from the inside out and you are actually doing something where you can impart a lot of that inner beauty and those superb human qualities and you should be proud of the impact you make on people.

Keep on doing what you're doing because there's no doubt you're making an appreciable difference to other peoples lives and you're probably beign at your best when you're letting your inner self project outwards and touch people and you should be proud that despite all the things you may have gone through in your life, you have still turned out to be the wonderful human being you are and it will always, always make a difference to people.

You a real human success story and you've still got so much to give, so be strong, keep smiling and GOOD LUCK and remember just how much you're worth and keep finding the time to be good to you too, because you ARE worth it.

:-) :-)

Matt

Terri said...

Glad you are writing, Leslie! Awesome!!

Terri said...

p.s.

Love this: "This essay is an attempt to break the silence. To reject the inertia. To live in "I don't have to know everything in order to do anything." "

You go, lady!