Sunday, January 20, 2013

Beautiful seasons: Part 1

I'm a member of a relatively small gym. Well, compared to many of the others in Modesto. One of the things that I rather enjoy about this is knowing all the employees and 3/4 of the other members. Zumba has created such a family among the people that work out there that we all talk every day.

Because of work schedules and Bible studies there are a number of us who've been working out on our own lately in the mornings or later at night. We end up on the treadmill and elliptical next to each other and it's thoroughly enjoyable to distractedly chat away the minutes while burning calories. The other day, I was chatting with some ladies while working out and we were discussing the fact that we actually love coming to work out. The time spent has become enjoyable. And we're happier in general because of it. When we all began, we just wanted to lose a certain amount of weight. Now, we aren't focused on that. We're enjoying every moment and every season of the journey. The friends we've made, the memories created, the events attended together, fundraisers done, etc.....

If we'd each only raced toward the goal without looking around us each day to appreciate a new dance, a new friend, a new song to run to, a new stretch learned that relieves a muscle cramp, a new record of calories burned in one session, we would miss the beauty of the moment. We would miss a season that shapes a part of who we are. (Quite literally in this case.) Instead, we've discovered that we enjoy each day in itself. We love each experience, event, class, as much as we will love it when we're completely successful at reaching our goal and we are exactly the way we want to look. We won't love it BETTER when we're there than we do now. And that's a beautiful thing.

No comments: