#mlmotivation

This past week was my Measuring Life Instagram 1 year anniversary! This past week was also the 9 year anniversary of my Measuring Life Tumblr account. I had started Measuring Life in January 2010 on Blogspot, but then quickly found the “fitblr” community on Tumblr so I decided to most all the posts from my first few months.

When I created my Blogspot I was doing it JUST for me, as a place to track my progress in a “public” way, however, I didn’t tell anyone about the page. Through some friends who were on a more public health and fitness journey in early 2010 I learned about the fitblr community on Tumblr. 2009-2011 were really the heyday of the fitblr community. Through Tumblr I was lead to tons of super useful resources related to fitness and nutrition and also learned about the posting culture like Transformation Tuesday, Weigh in Wednesday, Face to Face Friday and more. I was also introduced to things like Non-Scale Victories (NSV) or terms like Fitspo (fitness inspiration).

It was through Tumblr that I realized the power of community and what important piece of the weight loss/fitness puzzle that community was. Not only did I have a place of accountability, but I had people rooting for me and I was rooting for other people. Almost all of my Tumblr friends were people I didn’t know in real life and I found some “safety” in that. These fitblr strangers quickly became friends and over the years I’ve built real friends with them IRL (in real life). Most notably running a Ragnar with fitblr friends, multiple NYC and DC meal meet-ups, and attending the wedding in Chicago of a friend I met through Tumblr.

However early into my Tumblr journey I still didn’t post pictures of my face and kept my blog fairly anonymous. Looking back I was afraid of people judged and afraid of failing. I think that is largely why I didn’t tell my IRL friends about my Tumblr. People could SEE that I was losing weight, so I don’t know why I was so ashamed (?) about owning the fact that I was trying to get in better shape and healthier. Ashamed sounds harsh, but at the same time, I think it was accurate. I tried to wear my weight confidently although I definitely had low self-esteem and body image issues. Looking back now, I think perhaps had I publicly announced my weight loss journey it would have felt to me like I was declaring that I wasn’t happy with my body - which was true - but it would have made my already fragile self feel too damn vulnerable.  

There were times over the years that I thought about sharing my Tumblr with people, however, as most weight loss and fitness journeys go the past 9 years have been filled with two steps forward and one step back as well as falling off the wagon and getting back on time and time again. I think every time I was feeling good and ready to share my journey I’d lose momentum and then didn’t feel confident enough to share my Tumblr.

Last year at the start of 2018 I got recommitted to my weight loss and fitness journey. I took weight watchers tracking seriously, I made it a point to work out 5x a week, take vitamins and more. 5 months into this chapter, May of last year, I was feeling really good about my progress and in an act of 1AM clarity, I decided to make an Instagram and Facebook page for Measuring Life. Tumblr is sadly a shell of its former self and I knew that I needed a community of support to help me stay motivated. I had followed a number of weight loss/fitness Instagram accounts and already had a personal account since 2013 so I knew that was what I wanted as my main platform. However, I also know that if I ever want to monetize Measuring Life in some way that I should grab all the social media handles and buy a website domain. So last May I did just that.

It took sometime before I started personally inviting some IRL friends to my Measuring Life accounts. The response I got from those friends was so lovely and supportive. I had been working with my friend A on a logo for a couple of months in 2018 and I was ready to debut it once 2019 rolled in. January 2019 was also when I posted on my personal Instagram about my Measuring Life account. My Facebook page still feels too public, whereas people I am actually friends with follow my personal Instagram account. However, I hope to continue to put myself out there and share Measuring Life with more people. One of my bestie C started a fertility journey/new motherhood blog that she has been share more and more widely, I’m definitely inspired by her willingness to put it out there and “let it all hang out!”

Where Measuring Life goes is still to be seen. Nothing about my journey has been an “overnight transformation” which is what the internet loves. I’ve been slow and unsteady for years upon years. Plus for me Measuring Life isn’t just about my weight and fitness, it’s about my mental health, my relationships, my financial journey, and more. So needless to say my “brand is diluted,” which can be problematic. However, I still come back to the quote from Tom Rath, “if you measure it, you can manage it.” I think that’s the real point of Measuring Life. If you don’t know what you are working it and track the trajectory, then there is no way to change anything aside from dumb luck.

Teaching is my blood, both my parents were teachers and both of my mom’s parents were teachers. Truth be told I never set out to teach in any capacity, but destiny is funny like that.  

I found my way to teaching first in college where I started gravitating towards positions when I could “mentor” underclassman. Actually, that’s not true, I had a brief stint in high school where I taught CCD (Catholic education classes) for a year to first graders with my friend Heather. Nightmare, definitely solidified being a traditional K-12 teacher was not for me! So my college mentor role developed in co-teaching two interdisciplinary classes in grad school, both were highlights, but again I was drawn in through the leadership aspect more than the teaching. Two years later I taught a first-year college seminar, but that was the most “teaching” I did in like 5 years. Granted I was “leading” weekly 3 hour trainings for student leaders during that time, but again I never thought of it as teaching.

Suddenly I found myself at the helm of a whole course with 55+ sections of a first-year college transitions class and almost as many adjunct faculty to wrangle all while teaching a section myself. But it was during this time that I had my first real taste of experiential education, and in this case, it was through outdoor adventure curriculum. The learning that happened outside the class was even more powerful than anything that I could achieve in the classroom. One of my favorite “lessons” was on budgeting and decision making. We assigned students in small groups to meal plan for our trip. Each group probably got 2 meals to do. Each meal had a different amount budgeting to spend, so like breakfast was $4 per person, lunch was $6 per person, and dinner was $8 per person. The groups knew what meals they had to make and they were aware of the budget per person, but the trick was did the count all group members (including trip leaders, which one group forgot). What could they buy that could stretch the money out, what could be cooked with limited supplies on portable gas stoves? Were everyone’s dietary needs considered? Would the food be made at camp or did it need to be portable? So the groups needed to plan, shop and then cook. It was a real-life lesson and part of the well thought out curriculum that was cloaked in food shopping. In some cases they made too much food, others not enough food, went waaay under-budget or needed a last minute change because at the register they were over-budget. The processing the activity can sometimes be the best part.

Anyway, I taught another few years in traditional classroom settings, I even was hired to teach a 3-credit public speaking class, talk about traditional. I was really looking forward to the chance, but when I changed jobs HR needed me to resign my adjunct gig with my full-time gig, so I gave up the class months before it started. I toyed with picking up a first-year seminar class or a communications class at my current school, but for a whole host of reasons I didn’t. Then Urban Hiking found me.

A younger colleague of mine who I was Facebook friends with posted in Fall 2017 about being excited to be a first-time adjunct faculty and teaching an Urban Hiking class. I was excited for her excitement, but I was like Urban Hiking, tell me more. We chatted about it a few times over the course of the semester, I shared with her a bit about my outdoor education background. Well not too long after that she reached out to me letting me know she couldn’t teach in the Spring and wanted to refer me to her department chair. Next thing I knew I was brushing off my resume and interviewing for the gig which I got on the spot!

Teaching Urban Hiking last spring for the first time was a game changer. I was able to teach college students, be outdoors, and exercise. WINNING! This class is for 3 hours on Saturdays for 5 weeks and I was unsure about if it was worth the extra haul into DC. However, it quickly became my favorite part of the week. Not only was the class time itself great, but I loved reading the students reflections about each week’s hike and lesson. The class is designed to take students on various DC trails and introduce necessary hiking skills and concepts to hike for outdoor travel or as a recreational fitness activity. Content covers: fitness for hiking, route planning,  proper clothing and gear, safety concerns, and environmental conditions. I’m currently in my 3rd semester teaching Urban Hiking and it gets better and better. I’ve also spent the past two semesters mentoring the adjuncts who have taught the other second. Yup, the class was so popular that my department added a second section!

Recently I’ve gone and added the layer of Group Fitness Instructing which is such a different vibe. There are participants of all ages and abilities, those who are there to work out hard and those there to be more social. There is a sense of team and community, but also we are individuals all on our own journey, getting unique things from the workout. Lots of folks have asked me about my BODYPUMP teaching. In the Les Mills formats (which is the umbrella company out of New Zealand that are trainers that develop varieties of workouts) the instructors do the whole workout with the participants facing the class. We give verbal cues and we model the exercises. We stay at the front and try and give corrective cues as we go without calling out participants directly during class. There is so much going on from microphones to music to equipment, to knowing the choreography, getting the timing down, giving good cues, getting your mouth and brain to connect so you can say those cues, AND you are doing the entire workout while giving modifications, corrections, and most importantly praise and encouragement. Since I’m still a sub instructor I haven’t had the opportunity to develop too much rapport with the participants, but I’ve found myself subbing the same classes a few times now and that rapport is starting to develop.

Yesterday I fully co-taught a BODYPUMP class with my friend R. It was a blast to be teaching PUMP in my home gym. I’m co-teaching PUMP with J on Thursday and I’m stoked since I was a regular in that class. I’m also solo subbing at my home gym on the 17th and I can’t wait. The big dance will be when I get to sub a 10:25am Saturday class which is always packed and was a part of my weekend routine for a long time!