Loving What I Do

I never truly understood the above quote until now.  I am loving what I do and somehow it just does not feel like “work”.  Historically, “work” has always meant drudgery and discontentment, the inability to share ideas and lack of autonomy.  The only upside was that I was paid generously to be miserable.

Today, I develop programs, I assist people with their health and fitness, I listen to the needs of others and respond accordingly.  In the past 5 days I have developed and taught 6 different classes with people of all different levels of fitness.  Some people were extremely fit and wanted me to push them to their limits and others were seniors and simply wanted to be able to get out of a chair without assistance. 

Here’s a list of the classes:

Class #1 – How to create a gym workout to include strength, cardio and abs (45 min workout)

Class #2 – Functional Fitness

Class #3 – Chair workout for the active aging community

Class #4 – Strength training for beginners

Class #5 – Low impact movement focusing on cardio, strength, balance and flexibility

Class #6 – Strength training for seniors

I love this so much because I have the opportunity to be creative.  It is a challenge for me because I have to listen and determine the needs of each individual and build a class that will accommodate each person.  I know that I cannot please everybody but I’m happy to say that more people are happy than are not.

Update:  I was recently hired at the YMCA (which comes with a free membership!) and initially I was concerned with the number of hours I would get and how it would coincide with my current position at the fitness and wellness center.  I went in yesterday and found out that one of the staff members received a promotion to a different department and all her classes are being transferred to me.  That’s three classes per week plus any personal training clients that are assigned to me.  All of the classes are in the morning which is perfect because I primarily work evenings at the wellness center.

Look at God!  No matter what He always works things out in my favor.  I am blessed.  I will be the first to admit that my “new normal” isn’t without challenges.  Every single day is a faith walk but I am willing to walk it out and see what the end will be. 

I used to think that I approached entrepreneurship all wrong.  Thinking that maybe I should have gotten a job at a gym as soon as I left the corporate world.  That way, I would still have fa steady income while I was building my business.  Instead of going balls-deep into building a business and then having to get a job in a gym to supplement my income. 

Here’s the thing:  I believe that the fitness and wellness center as well as the YMCA felt comfortable hiring me so quickly because I had that years’ worth of experience on my own.  It is not likely that they would trust a trainer with a certification and no experience.  Even though money is tight right now and I have to budget every dime (I should be doing that anyway!) I believe that God’s timing is perfect.  I will still own my own business.  www.michelematthews.com is still alive and kicking.  It just doesn’t look how I envisioned it and that’s okay.  I trust and believe that God’s plan for me is way better than anything I could have planned for myself.