A couple months ago, the manager for one of the local OrangeTheory Fitness’ studio had set up a booth in our apartment lobby.

The last time I took an OTF class was back when we lived in Knoxville. I wasn’t going consistently back then, but it was fun to take an occasional weekend class with my friend, Katy. 

I felt drawn to talk to her, to find out what their monthly rates were, where the studio even was, etc.

But I hesitated because even when I had a membership previously, I would always find myself cancelling classes for lack of motivation. Or running into scheduling issues (e.g. happy hour always took precedence, duh). 

What would be different now? 

But the urge to sign up felt overpowering. Especially after taking their trial class. 

At first, after signing up, I didn’t even tell Ankur about it. Ha. I kept calling it “my workout class,” worried that if I told him what it actually was, he’d ask me too many questions or remind me of the time I paid for OTF classes, but let them go to waste on occasion.

I didn’t really want to talk to anybody about it. It felt like it was my little secret. Something I got to do without trying to defend my choices. Afraid that if I mentioned it to my dad, he’d say, “treadmill and weights? But you have that in your apartment building gym. Why do you need to pay extra for this?” 

Of course, nobody is trying to push their agenda on me. They’re simply asking questions. But even the thought of having to defend my choice felt hard for me because, well, I was still figuring out if it was the right thing for me.

In fact, when I did choose to sign up for a membership, I also had to purchase a new heart rate monitor. Because at one point, during the move from California to Chicago, I remember looking at my old monitor, thinking to myself, “I am a mom now. I will never have time to do this again.” And then THREW IT AWAY.

Dramatic, I know. 

But as a mama to a 1-year old back then, it really felt like I was never going to have a life of my own. 

Anyway, tangent. 

The point of all this rambling is to say that I have really been enjoying this class. I like that it gets me out of the house. I like the 10 minute walk outside to get there – no matter how cold it is. It helps reset my brain after sitting in front of a computer or being with Ishu. I like that I get to workout with others, seeing the same faces show up each day. 

My feelings toward it are really different than they were last time I had been going in 2019. I’m in a different phase of life. And maybe it’s a little bit of a mindset shift too. Instead of it feeling like an obligation to get a sweat in, it feels like a nice way to move my body and rediscover my strength. And the social/community part of it is another thing I am enjoying (what with socially isolating for so long + working from home). 

As I’ve felt more confident in my decision to sign up, I’ve started to be more open about it. 

Because the questions and the comments and the opinions aren’t going to have me questioning myself now. Now that I’ve been going – and have been loving going! – I know that this is the right decision for me. At this time in my life.

Moral of it all: you’re allowed to try things on and see how they fit. Even if you’ve tried it on before and it didn’t fit back then. Sometimes, depending on the phase of life you’re in, it’ll feel like the best fit ever and you’ll wonder why it took so long to get to this point when it’s been here all along.