Congratulations! It’s a VIRUS!

I prepare workouts for every client each week. I sit down at the computer over the weekend and go through the schedule for the week, mapping out a workout that I hope is challenging, manageable and fun. Each week’s workouts are then stored on my google drive by date. 

On March 15, 2020, I sat down at my computer as always and opened a new document. I titled it, as I usually do, with the date of the coming Monday. That week’s document would have been titled Week of 3/16/20. But on this particular day, I added something to the title of the document. I added COVID 1. 

March 16, 2020 was the first day I did NOT go into the gym to meet my clients for our sessions. It was the first day that I met my clients on Zoom and hoped that I would still be able to provide something challenging, manageable and fun for them. 

When I sat down at my computer last night and opened a new document for the coming week, I titled it Week of 12/14/20. COVID 40.

It’s been 40 weeks. That’s as long as it takes to grow a human baby. It’s the gestational period of a human being! 

What a long strange gestation this has been! All of us, no matter our circumstances, have had to pivot, to be nimble, and to roll with whatever these past 40 weeks have thrown at us. And to do that, we’ve had to be flexible, mobile, reactive, agile, patient and willing to fail. 

All of these qualities are exactly what we train for. It’s why we go to the gym. It’s why people hire personal trainers. We want to train our bodies for the unexpected hurdles that life can throw at us so we can be strong in the face of adversity, keep our balance when the ground is shifting, and be vulnerable to try new things and maybe not be really good at them. 

Think about the work we’ve all done over the past 40 weeks. And despite the challenges, the hardships, the losses, and the inconveniences, let’s also think about what we have created -- what we have birthed -- during this time. 

Don’t forget that there is a light at the end of the tunnel.