Hello 2010

Here I am, writing on my blog over a year after my last post. So much has changed in a year. Last I wrote, I'd just had knee surgery to clean up my patella (knee cap). I wasn't quite into a good groove when it comes to working out and I wasn't sure how I was going to get myself up to par; although, I was positive I could still train effectively. In many ways, I was vicariously living through their successes as I recuperated. I have to admit, that was the beginning of a dry spell when it comes to being where I needed to be to fully focus on my own fitness.

It seems that during that time, I was at the beginning of biting off more than I could chew. My appetite for serving, bettering myself, reaching personal goals, and achieving elite fitness was insatiable. I was working on my degree, recuperating from knee surgery, beginning to feel the effects of a slowing economy as clients started backing off of training, and was a bit overwhelmed by it all. I guess you could say that I was caught between where I was wanting to be and where I needed to be. Within a few months, I took a second job and intended to phase out my personal training to focus on what I still to this day believe is the best thing (for women anyway) since sliced bread. That's the ingenious creation of my sister-in-law, Staci Berner. She developed the Shapeez Unbelievabra (check it out at www.shapeez.com). By Spring, I was working for Staci and David (Staci's husband/my brother-in-law), Monday-Friday as Staci's personal assistant and the primary Customer Care person. What a great place to work! Drama-free atmosphere, great bosses, and a team of women (and David) all working together on the best new thing for women. I can't deny that it was a rewarding experience!

Unfortunately, I was trying to "do it all" as they say...do the full-time working mom thing which included working for Shapeez and holding on to some of my personal training, work on my degree, keep up with all of the kids' activities (did I mention there are five to keep up w/?), and somehow try to muster up the emotional energy for myself and my husband. Eventually, I tuckered myself out and became especially ill. I just couldn't recover and stayed tired.

At this point, it was apparent that I had to make a change-a few changes! One of the hardest things I had to do was leave Shapeez. It was especially difficult to tell my sister that I had to leave and focus on my personal training and family. The flexibility my life requires is just too much to be able to ask of any employer, especially one that I love so much! It was also difficult to truly believe in myself enough as a business woman to re-enter personal training full-time. Thankfully, my loving husband, my children, and the clients that I still held onto encouraged me. I even remember my big brother, Tony, calling me when I was sick and saying, "Gretchen, you can't keep doing that. This is going to bite you in the ***." My parents were worried about me. My mom and dad would lovingly express their concern that I was not taking care of myself. And my sweet husband....Elon was doing such an amazing job, holding down the fort here at home, but he really missed me. Little by little, I could see Elon's need for more time with me here at home. So, it was a no-brainer. I had to make the change and it was not going to be easy.

Once I wrapped my mind around what I needed to do, I prayerfully weighed every step of every day and every word of every conversation. I wanted to be sure that, as hard as it would be, my heart was in the right place. What a blessing it has been since!

Here I am back to what I need to be doing! My training schedule is starting to fill again. I'm working on my degree again (at my own pace thanks to online opportunities), and the kids have a mom who isn't tuckered out. Elon and I have been able to have "us" again.

So, 2010 is being met with new goals:
1. Get my home organized so that it is peaceful for us all.
2. Get my workouts in no less than 5 days a week.
3. Book my schedule so that I am training/teaching classes no less than 20 sessions a week.
4. Give each kid no less than 1 hour of "mom and me" time each week.
5. Spend quality alone time with my husband as much as possible.
6. Keep my GPA (3.75).

More goals to come! What are your goals?