Yes You Can! Do anything you can dream of.

     Dreaming and accomplishing your goal(s). It takes commitment and hard work. I just recently finished school for NAIT’s Personal Fitness Trainer Program and the reflection of my adventure in doing so has left me humble and grateful. During one of my class assignments, we had to lead discussions on things we, as students, were dealing with in our practicum sites. Below is my response to one of my classmates as they were struggling with the reality vs. expectations in how hard it was for them and well all of us at times.
     “It's one thing to go through struggles and it's another to recognize and be able to reflect. There can be triumphs and achievements throughout life and rarely, if ever, is it a trajectory of a straight line. There will be ups and downs, ease, and struggles, and what comes with that is adaptation. First and foremost, you need to step back and be proud of your accomplishments, of how far you have come, of all that you have learned, and the growth that has taken place. I think this can be applied to many aspects of life in general.
     My experience with school/practicum has been hard, and yes it has been incredibly amazing, but it has been hard and a lot of hard work, long hours, many tears, and so many smiles of proudness. There were times at the beginning (and throughout) when I would become so emotional and wonder, "what am I doing? Can I really do this with all that I have on my plate? Am I good enough? Can I make a difference? etc." There was doubt for sure. I was so stressed out and found it very difficult to find balance. I turned to the support of my family and friends, and their encouragement helped me reflect that regardless of what I was thinking at times, I was inspiring that I was following my passion. I needed to take it ONE step at a time, ONE thing at a time, ONE task at a time. I had to respect the process. I had to acknowledge that I have so much experience to gain and to keep going strong.
     During both my practicum experiences, I had experienced "hiccups" that we can not control, such as, clients canceling very last minute because of sick children, themselves being sick, them not showing up because of a misunderstanding/miscommunication, etc. I had to learn how to adapt and make use of my time because most of the time I had already drove to the facility, so I would seek out some mentorship with the fellow personal trainers and pick their brains and ask them questions and learn from them. One of my fellow trainers who is a kinesiologist would give me a hypothetical client with a specific goal and I would have to create a program for them. We would work through the program and reasoning behind my choices. With my clients not showing up for a scheduled session, I never got mad, angry, or annoyed, I just used those moments of a canceled session as an opportunity to learn something. These circumstances are reality in the world of personal fitness trainers, so we just need to use these as opportunities to learn from. Life happens, it happens to all of us and we need to respect that sometimes, things come up.”
     I had someone mention to me during the last bit of my school/practicum adventure and they reminded me that not too long ago - I was just starting out on this adventure of becoming a personal fitness trainer and how long I had to go, and now I have crossed that FINISH LINE.


     A saying that is written up at the Rec centre I work at: "Your workout today will one day become your warm-up" I like this one because that signifies GROWTH. What seems hard today, will one day be easy.
     
                                                  Yes You Can! You can do anything you can dream of.

     I would like to wish all of you an amazing year ahead and embrace new beginnings and cherish the adventures that have brought you joy and happiness.
 
Cheers and don’t forget to be amazing
Your Guide,
Christine