Anatomically, there is a difference between a brand and a business. Tangentially, there is also a difference between working in Fitness and working in the Fitness Industry. Being employed by way of fitness means providing or teaching a skill promoting well-being, i.e. personal trainer, group fitness instructor, yoga instructor, meditator, massage therapist, reiki master, etc. The fitness industry consists of equipment manufacturers, corporate gyms/franchises, and any professional certifying entity, i.e. NASM, ACE, C.S.C.S, etc. People who worked in fitness lost jobs and their personal brands took a massive hit. People who worked in the fitness industry lost businesses, properties, and large accounts.
When how you earn money for a living defines who you are as a person, you lose sight of your accolades, education, and your experience. When my job was taken from me, when clients I trained for years could no longer meet in person, when my guaranteed side hustle could no longer exist, I was left with myself. That’s where the soul searching began.
You can always lose a job, but you can never lose a career. In January of 2020, I had an epiphany; I was worth more than I was being paid, I was tired of bending and stretching to show how talented I was hoping someone would notice to give me a raise they had no idea I desired. I created a deck to pitch to the President, CEO, CFO, and a table of investors. Second epiphany; You aren’t paid what you’re worth, you’re paid what you negotiate. With that being said, the meeting never happened, I was laid off before I even had the chance to pitch. Legally I can’t say more at this time.
Boom, I’m stuck figuring out my next move. I began by asking myself the hard questions. Who are you? What do you want to accomplish? What is your purpose in life? Heavy stuff, I know, but believe me when I tell you, answering those questions are essential for growth. Speaking from a late 20-something black male’s perspective, emotional intelligence is often frowned upon when you’re too in-depth with your feelings. Hypersensitivity is a privilege most people aren’t afforded in my position. Allowing myself the time to be soft, to be gentle, to find me, to reintroduce me, to redefine my existence, was not an overnight task. Isolation helped and demanded growth due to fewer distractions.
Yoga is different for everybody and different in every “body”. -Unknown
My best advice to any wellness professional who is lost, without a job, title, or the community you once had, I challenge you to stop worrying about working out and start working in! Much like the yoga quote above, knowledge of self will look different for each individual. I can’t speak for all and say I have the cure. In fact, you should steer clear of anyone who claims to have such. I only speak for myself, and what has worked best.
Once I allowed myself an introspective look at my life, I found myself immediately wanting to re-establish a connection with my inner child. Reconnecting with my inner child wasn’t a matter of maturity or immaturity, but more so about happiness through movement. As a child, you find freedom in motion when you play, everything is a game, you make up the rules as you go, happiness is in abundance. The ideology of doing more of what makes me happy was truly the only thing that resonated to the point of action. Additionally, as a child I rode my bike constantly, it was instant freedom to ride around with no destination in mind. As an adult, I frequent the same freedom as I bike around the city, one of my many salvations throughout quarantine; going anywhere my two wheels would take me.
I began to think about the skill of biking transferring to other aspects of my life, decision making, planning, execution, acceleration, deceleration, riskiness, overall a shift in mindset from scarcity to abundance. As long as I have air in my tires, I can go anywhere, the only variable being the time it takes to reach my destination. Choosing to fill the air in my tires and go, is synonymous with choosing to breathe air in my lungs to move. As long as I’m breathing, I’ll be a fitness professional. I don’t need to be employed by a fitness company to hold that title, I don’t need to work myself to exhaustion, I don’t need to be validated by any outside organization, I just need to breathe air into my lungs.
If one were to ask how a fit pro makes a pivot in the new year, I’d say, find yourself first, the real you, then find what makes the younger you happy. Once you have found joy, harness it and find the skills that are transferable. Transition your mindset from what you don’t have, and focus on what you do. I assure you, you already have everything you need. I repeat, you already have everything you need. It can be as easy as riding a bike, once you get back in motion, it’ll be like your first rep.
