Another reason why I do not workout at the gym…

If you have ready the “About Me” section of my blog you are well aware of the fact that I hate the gym. I do not discriminate on whether it is a fancy gym or a national chain facility. I’m just not comfortable putting my bare skin (like shoulders) on a machine that some stranger has also put their bare skin on. Gross! I know they wipe down the vinyl seats but still, they aren’t wiping it down with an antibacterial towel. I’m not a germ phobe, but if I can avoid getting some strangers skin cells and body fluid on me you can bet that I will.

The germ issues aside, there is an even bigger reason why I prefer working out at home. Exercising for me is very spiritual. I know that sounds hokey, but for me when I push myself and do something that I couldn’t do before, well it makes me feel like I am defying the odds. I am defying MY odds. I’m defying what I once was.

I was once a very unhealthy child. Especially my two years of junior high. I felt really inadequate and weak in gym class. I hated it. I hated it even more because my gym teacher was a total witch. She never believed that I had asthma and couldn’t breathe despite my mom giving her a note to excuse me from running. She was such a witch that she would put a 3-day limit on my mom’s notes and when I would go to gym class she would say that I was no longer excused from running because my mom’s note had expired. She was ridiculous! Thinking back now, her logic was completely absurd. Asthma doesn’t go away in 3 days! It’s chronic and gets aggravated when vigorous exercise is demanded from the body. Like I said, she was a total witch.

Fast forward 20 years and every single run that challenges me I think about that witch! I run for my 13 year-old self. I run to show myself that just because that woman was a witch, she was wrong about me. I wasn’t lazy. I didn’t want to be overweight and sick. I wanted to be normal and her being a jerk made those years just a little bit harder for me.

Sometimes those runs become so challenging that when I make it to the end, I get so emotional that I cry. Yes, I cry on my treadmill. I told you it was spiritual for me. Can you imagine a weepy chick next to you on the treadmill at the gym? Yeah, I didn’t think so! That’s why I stay home.

Basically, I cry because everyone that ever told me I couldn’t was wrong! I have it in me to do these things. It took me years to learn how to control my asthma, but I did learn and realistically look at me now!

LOOK AT ME NOW!!!

I am not one of the 50% of US adults that are obese. I could have been had I let my 7^th grade gym teacher break my spirit. Instead, she built my character. 

Thank you to that witch for building my character and making me a stronger person.

Thank you!