Death to the Magic Bullet - It's Okay to Admit it's Hard

A really unsettling thing happened to me recently.

Determined to push back against an expanding middle and an alarming breathlessness on climbing two flights of stairs, I resolved to finally venture back to formal exercise.?

I dug out my neglected lycra, and trotted off to Barrecore, a class "designed to work your entire body, create longer toned muscles, reduce body fat?and make you think you are going to die". (Ok, ok, so I added that last bit, it's not in the official marketing material).

The small, muscle-specific movements in Barrecore are deceptively tough.

30 minutes of "Squeeze hold!" - "Lift hold!" - "Drop hold!" and I had a sudden, almost uncontrollable urge.

To cry.

I'm not exaggerating. As I looked around at all the other women seemingly taking this in their stride and felt every muscle in my own body shaking, I was hit by a wave of actual physical despair that had me holding back tears.?

This was hard. I was crap at it. I felt embarrassed. I was momentarily overwhelmed by my own inadequacy.?

Six weeks and 14 classes on, I'd got a grip. I was even making progress. But then something even weirder happened.

Partway through a class, a confident woman I didn't recognise, seemingly giving it her all further along the barre, started to look tearful. I saw the instructor check in with her, but couldn't hear the conversation.?

At the end of the class, I gently approached the lady in the changing room, concerned she might be struggling with a bereavement, an injury or a challenging situation at home or work.?

"Are you okay?"?

She gave me a watery grin.?

"Yeah. I just didn't expect it to be so HARD. I cycle, I run, I thought I was pretty fit. But I really couldn't do half the stuff".

Boy, did I feel seen.

So here's what I want to say to you.

Trying new stuff can be hard. Doing things you haven't done before requires you to get uncomfortable. Making progress takes time.

Sorry about that. But I doubt it's really news to you.

And I think it's brilliant to acknowledge it. To embrace it.?

We may be lured by the Instagram posts that promise a new body or a new career or a new bank balance in record time if we only implement this "simple, failproof method".

We'd love that to be true. But we all know it's BS.?

We all know that change of any kind actually requires courage, commitment, experimentation and time.?

And it's all the sweeter for it. Because with that approach comes real, personal growth, learning and progress. ?A genuine sense of achievement.

I've just signed up for another 3 months of Barrecore. My muscles still regularly shake like they might snap and I still have to cheat on side planks (isn't that what knees are for?). But I feel stronger and more flexible.?

I'm moving forwards.

And asking myself these 3 questions in other parts of my life. Try them:

Where am I resisting change because I'm scared to accept it may be hard?

If I let go of worrying about looking stupid, not being as good as everyone else and not getting it right straightaway, what difference could that make?

What is the magic bullet I'm secretly waiting for and what better approaches could I try instead?

Stay curious,

Rachel

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