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When You Don’t Want To

It’s 5:00 p.m. and I’m staring at my sports bra, yet again. Everything wants me to not put it on; my couch, my job, my grocery list, my Everest-like laundry pile. It would be so easy to spend the evening tackling the million other tasks in my queue. I think about the traffic and how much I loathe I-77. I think about how late I’m going to get home. I think about how much I already don’t feel like showering afterwards.

You’ve been there. If you haven’t, let me congratulate you. You’ve reached fitness Nirvana! However, most of us have been there. I’ve been teaching for nine years. I own THE JAM:CLT where we basically put on dance-along fitness shows five nights a week. It is my absolute favorite thing to do in the world; but I have this moment, with my sports bra, every time.

There’s a lot of noise in the fitness industry that may make you think we’ve all somehow transcended the moments of just not feeling like it. I’m here to tell you that, so many times, we don’t feel like it.

However, I put on the sports bra. I fight the traffic. I arrive. I see all the people I know and hear their loud laughs. I see the friendships that have formed on my dancefloor.  I make my playlist and channel my fitness Patronus, which is Beyonce (if you don’t understand this reference, please put fitness aside until you’ve finished the Harry Potter series). I full-on dance and lip sync for my life for the next hour (if you don’t understand this reference, please put fitness aside until you’ve finished all of RuPaul’s Drag Race).

I teach my approximately 1,600th class and I am better. I am emotionally lighter. The things that bothered me at 6:30 don’t bother me at 7:30 or 8:00. My classes are a magical unicorn of an hour that make you healthier and happier. I have never, in nine years, regretted putting on the sports bra. So, when you’re staring at yours, know that I am with you. Put it on. Let’s dance.