I took up barre last fall with the encouragement of friends and a groupon. At the time I was looking for something to help with toning and building up the muscles around my knee. I love to run but my knees don't always agree. At my first few classes I was slightly intimidated by this new type of workout. My body was working on areas it had never worked on before. It was also intimidating to look around at some of the other people in the class and see how amazing they are at barre. I decided to quickly get over my that and dedicate myself to barre.
My first goal was to maximize my groupon deal plus the new client special they were offering. It would be an 8 week test run. I was kind of thinking after those first 8 weeks I would be burnt out and ready to focus solely on cardio again. Well those 8 weeks proved to be different than I was planning. I was enjoying the changes that were happening to my body. I was also immersed in this community of support and friendship. Barre took on a change for me that was both physical and mental. It became me dedicating an hour each class to working on my mind and body while creating deeper friendships with those I started the class with and new friendships with other classmates.
After my initial 8 week dedication I decided I wanted to take on the 100 class goal. It is a goal that is celebrated at the studio: you sign your name on the barre and earn your 100 club socks. I knew it was going to take some serious focus to complete 100 classes and do it by a deadline I set out for myself. There were days that were harder than others where I felt like I just needed a break but in the end I am so thankful I pushed myself to complete 100 classes. It was me allowing myself to take 100 hours and focus on nothing else but me. That is not easy to do. As a mom and wife my focus is rarely on me. We all need to remember ourselves and everyday we should take a moment to focus on nobody but ourselves. It allows you to recharge and refocus.
I am thankful for all the support I had along the way to achieve my goal. Now I am ready to start a new goal and I know I will have the amazing people in my life supporting me along the way.
Kristen