Every journey, we’re often reminded, begins with a single step. While it was certainly only a baby step, I took that first step Wednesday morning.
As I mentioned last week, after months and months of feeling worse and worse about gaining weight and my sedentary lifestyle I contacted Stark Total Body and Fitness and enlisted the help of a personal trainer. I was given the choice of a male of a female. I chose the male, simply because I didn’t want to cry like a little girl … in front of another little girl.
Warren Stark, owner of the facility, connected me with Stetson Browning. I’ve known Stetson and his family for a long time so it wasn’t like I was embarking on this journey to try and get in shape and lose weight with a total stranger.
We planned to kick this off on May 1 which is exactly six months to the day before my 60th birthday. I didn’t set any definitive goals but instead just vowed to work hard and to try and make as much progress I can during the next six months.
As the time approached for the May 1 early-morning kickoff I found myself experiencing a myriad of feelings that included intimidation, excitement, anxiousness, exhilaration and plain old panic. While I certainly had worries about failing and embarrassing myself, my biggest concern was this: how do you just flip a switch and start doing the right things. As I continued to ponder that and stew about doing all the wrong things and then waking up Wednesday morning to do all the right things I thought of my oldest daughter Lyndsay and her companion Ryan. You see, they have both battled addictions and have been very open and honest about their road to recovery – a recovery that involved flipping that switch I mentioned and getting through the first day of doing the right thing.
When I told Lyndsay about my ‘flip the switch’ feelings, she shared a quote with me that I had never hear before, but one that will I will always remember.
“Faith is taking the first step even when you can’t see the whole staircase,” she told me.
Those are words of wisdom, don’t you agree?
Being an early riser the idea of a 6 a.m appointment didn’t bother me, however the thought of a 6 a.m appointment with a personal trainer pretty much had me terrified as I drove to Starks. I arrived 15 minutes early, because as my dad said often: ‘if you’re five minutes early … you’re 10 minutes late.’
It’s one thing to be overweight and out of shape and a totally other thing to put it on display at a busy fitness center. As I walked from my truck to the front door I could see that Starks was quite busy but I sure couldn’t see that staircase. Regardless, I took the first step.
After the initial awkwardness passed the hour flew by as Stetson took me through a variety of weight-lifting exercises. And while that was going on we talked diet (nearly all mine is bad), dos and don’ts, good food vs. bad food, etc. While I plan to talk about the exercise regimen more as I move forward I’ll just say today that it was a good workout and I will probably be so sore I can’t get out of bed tomorrow. I will also say that I left Starks with a lot more spring in my step than when I entered.
And I think I even caught a glimpse of that staircase.
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