I used to be very fit in my teens and early twenties, but as life took over, kids, work etc., I found less time to take out for myself. So at the beginning of the year, I vouched to make the gym my best friend again! Me & some of my close friends all made a pact to work out together three times a week! We would always train around the same time as one of the in house PTs, and he would come in early to do his own sessions. He made working out look like a breeze, I was slightly envious of the weights he could lift, but I knew it wasn’t as easy as it looked. He probably didn’t realise it, but he motivated me & every time I wanted to give up, I’d keep pushing.

Last week, during my session, I watched him as he did some pull-ups. My jaw nearly hit the ground. I knew full well that you need to have a crazy amount of upper body strength to them & to make them look that easy! I don’t know why but I found myself walking over to where he was & asked to try. The nerves hit me all at once, and my friends watched too, which made it worse! What was I doing? He was so friendly & stepped aside to let me have a try. I went for it once & then the second one was more of a half pull up. I was huffing and puffing like I had just sprinted for 10 miles! He was so kind! He commended me for trying, asked me to shake it off, take a deep breath and to go at it again. I managed two (full) ones this time. I was so chuffed!

Wednesday came round & I marched over mid-session & he kindly helped to spot me as I tried again. This time we spent a good 10 minutes on it & I did three. I huffed a bit but nowhere near as much as the first time. The next day came, and I tried again. He supported me all the way, every single day. I don’t know how, but I could do 5! 5 pull-ups by the end of the week. He stood back and smiled. He was so proud & so was I.

Moral of the story…

We are all at different stages of our journey towards being more sustainable & very often, it would have taken a lot of hard work, dedication & motivation to get us to where we are. It isn’t easy & very often people will see you & how far you’ve come & wonder where to begin. You may even be completely unaware of how inspirational you are. It takes real courage to stand up to do what is right.

We want to spread this cheer. We want to encourage everyone in our lives to be more ‘YAYZY’. Be like the PT, give friends a helping hand, make their presents, buy them a tote bag, encourage them, share articles with them, buy them books and jeer them on when they try.

It isn’t easy & life makes it very hard sometimes to be mindful of our choices, but we can accomplish so much with great support.

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