The path to Betterdom!

The flag’s gone up and thousands of inspirational, motivated and committed thrill-seekers tumble towards the start line signalling the launch of Michelle Bridges’  2012 12wbt programme Round 1. Today,  the first pre-season task has been opened up. It seems so basic, so simple – but I’m reminded of something I’ve been telling my clients over and over for the past months:  A dream will always be a dream until you write it down. Then it becomes a goal! I love this idea and to me the instruction ‘Introduce yourself’ is like a stage curtain. Open it up and behind it a whole new world unfolds which you can watch from a distance or choose to become a part of. By writing down your goals I truly believe you are stepping onto that stage, altering the course of whatever play happens to be in motion at the time, changing its direction, shifting the props around, giving voice to the characters of  your choice – and most importantly writing ‘out’ the characters you don’t want or need in your performance. Yes, there will be disasters, too – isn’t all theatre like that? Isn’t that the joy of live theatre? The unexpected catastrophes – and loving the way the actors regroup, signal furiously to the Prompt for the next line, look to somebody for help, wait for that key word/line/action to bring everything back on track again, heave a deep sigh of relief and …. carry on!

I love it! The curtains are opening – and the stories unfolding behind them on the 12wbt forum are wonderful, amazing, frustrating, motivating, heart-warming … what a cast!! This is going to be an incredible show!

And now it’s time for me to write my own character part. What part will I play? Will I spend most of my time off-stage or will I be central to the plot? Oh yes! I think that’s got to be vital. I need to be central. Accountable. Responsible. I need to be able to direct my own play in order to ensure it’s success. It’s going to be hard work and my particular play is very much a one-hander. I’m relying on the crew … and what a crew that is! – to get me through to the end. I don’t need any standing ovations. I just want to be able to take a bow and say ‘I did it! I finished it!’ And I want the entire crew of ‘my’ production to be standing there with me.

I’m directing this particular play by myself – and for myself. I’m not involving other cast members. It’s be nice, of course, but it’s difficult. As a PT I can already hear the echoes of ‘What do you need to do that for?’ ‘Don’t you know what to do already?’ ‘You’ve no weight to lose – what are you doing?’

Well, it’s not a matter of ‘what’ I need to do this for, but rather ‘who’. I need to do this for me. And yes, I DO know what to do already and whether I need to lose weight or not is irrelevant.

Truth is, I adore my job and spend a lot of time thinking about how best to help my clients, planning sessions, learning more so I can help them better … but apart from running (which I adore) I don’t spend a lot of time on myself. I do karate and kickboxing and that’s definitely ‘me’ time – as is my running time, but I have some big goals this year and sometimes I just get fed up fighting my own battles making myself train harder or do more. Sometimes, I just want to be told what to do!!! And THAT is why I’m here. I’ll direct my show, for sure – but this time I want/need somebody else to write it! I want to listen, to do and to learn. I want to be fitter than before, stronger than before and see numbers on the scales that I haven’t seen before.

So, I’m looking for volunteer crew members. Are you in? When you sign up you get free use of a virtual cattle prod, megaphone, ear plugs (so you can’t hear any whining) – and a small reel of thread to tie around me and help me over the finish line, because if you need anything stronger than that, then I’m not working hard enough to get there!

Here’s to a speedy journey to Betterdom. Curtain …………… UP!!