Fearless

Fearlessness has come up in my life several times this week. Time 1 was at yoga class with the fabulous Alie McManus (She teaches at Moshka and does occasional free classes at Lululemon. I caught a free one this week at Lululemon Halsted. Her vibe is amazing!), she said that yoga represents a state where a person has let go of fear so that love can overtake them wholly; it’s a sort of relaxed fearlessness. I always find peace in tumbling around on my mat, trying to make my limbs contort in the way the other yogis always do so gracefully, but it never occurred to me that letting go of my negative energies for an hour every week helps to release my fears as well. I thought that was a lovely thought; it really inspired me to take a second and focus and breathe and just enjoy triangle pose and downward-facing dog.

Time two involved a battle with a scale. Time three involved a pinky promise from my personal trainer.

Seriously. A grown man, with many many muscles, who makes me yell a “Hell Yeah!” as my battle cry pre-circuit during workouts, made me pinky promise that I would go to spin class on Friday. Well, today is Friday. It’s incredibly snowy, I’m still sore from my workout with said trainer on Wednesday and I stayed up past my bedtime watching Dirty Dancing sleepover style with my wonderful friend who just returned home from several months in London. Also, I was a little bit concerned about falling over and dying. (Spin classes look really scary in movies, no?) And what if everyone there was tiny and thin and spunky and knew exactly what to do while I looked like a lumbering oaf on a bicycle?

Well, I went.

It was intense. I sweated more than I maybe ever have in my entire life (including the 10 years I lived in Alabama…). I think there are parts of my body that I didn’t even know that I had that are sore. But I feel awesome! I was way too involved in hills and sprints to even notice if the people around me were rocking it; I felt like I totally rocked it for my first time on the field. It’s probably an endorphin high, but I went out and twirled in the snow and caught snowflakes on my tongue and set about to have a really productive afternoon. And I’ll definitely be back in Spin Studio 1 on Monday at lunchtime.

It’s amazing what facing down even the tiniest of fears can do for your juju. I’m more than ready to tackle my weekend, to-do list and all! If you are feeling hesitant, give yourself a little credit. You probably won’t die during a 45 minute spin class. Your life won’t be over if you text that guy too soon. You probably look awesome in those red suede booties.

Live a little and be brave enough to face your tiny fears this weekend; it will make you ready to face your big ones in the long run. Much luck and love!

Kisses,
AJS