Welcoming the Flying Pigs of Life

I originally started this blog entry before the COVID-19 crisis began, and just like most everyone worldwide right now, we are living the new "Fresh Prince Normal" now that our lives have been flipped turned upside-down.  Funny thing is it ties in rather well with the concept of flying pigs...

 So you are probably wondering what the deal is with Flying Pigs? I am not exactly sure where or when my obsession with them started, but I've basically been fascinated by them my entire life. To me they represent the accomplishment of the impossible, and basically doing things that you've been told you can't accomplish.  I've spent a good chunk of my life proving people wrong, and flying pigs became a visual reminder of pursuing my dreams and accomplishing goals, no matter how many limitations I was deemed to have. As I have grown older and worked through trauma and chronic health issues, I have been pleasantly surprised at just how much I have been able to accomplish despite having some rather significant barriers. 

To be completely honest though...I have never really felt like my accomplishments were mine, and had a pretty significant case of imposter syndrome that I had to work through to get where I am today.  The imposter syndrome came as a result of some of my trauma, I had this feeling that I always had to work harder than others, or struggled more to accomplish things.  I have been involved in sports since I was quite young, but I struggled with asthma up until my early 20's and had a harder time than most of my teammates with practice and recovery.  I was never afraid of hard work, but I also never considered myself all that great at sports even though I was actually quite good. It turns out not only I am not alone, but this can be one of the after effects of experiencing trauma. 

Imposter Syndrome is defined as high-achieving individuals that experience an inability to internalize their accomplishments, and have a persistent fear of being exposed as a "fraud". It creates a strong fear of failure, difficulty in making decisions, and crippling perfectionism.  It goes something like this:  I was a cross country and track runner in high school (accomplishments for which I was named MVP my junior year, and inducted into the inaugural class of the sports hall of fame 2 years ago), was a member of all 3 National Honor societies (Regular Academics, French, and Spanish), sang in competition choir, worked a part-time job, and volunteered regularly. I never felt like I was doing enough.  I made a lot of excuses that it was just good luck, or I happened to managing the timing right, but the truth was I had accomplished a lot and I should have been proud of those accomplishments. 

As I got older and entered the workforce, it got somewhat worse.  While moving further into my federal career, I was working harder and harder yet unable to get past the glass ceiling.  Every promotion I applied for ended up in me being the second pick, and being #2 started to really wear on me. I had gained a lot of program management experience, had built a reputation as a hard working team player, and had a wide range of skills built into my resume.  It still wasn't enough.  When I finally started the nursing school application process, I realized just how broad my skill set was, and that I had a lot to offer. I was terrified to start my own business because I never felt like I was "that great of a personal trainer", but the truth was all of my clients have been successful as long as they were following the programs I put together for them. I was quite successful when I ran my business out of a big box gym, but didn't like the money-hungry attitude of the gym. Looking at my prior resume experience I had built up quite the toolkit of skills that would help me not only launch a business but also make it successful.  

When I thought about naming it, it was of course a no-brainer.  I had previously run my training as Flying Pig Fitness, but felt that limited what we offer to only fitness training. Flying Pig Lifestyle and Wellness is intended to focus on a more holistic approach to fitness and wellness as part of your daily life.  I  have trained hard for many racing events over the years (running, triathlons, obstacle courses), but now there has been a shift in wanting to really spend as much time with my family as I can.  My kids are at a great age and really enjoy the outdoors, but also participate in multiple sports throughout the year.  It can been challenging to stay active and fit when you are playing Uber and trying to manage a full family calendar.  Over time I have picked up a lot of helpful tools to make this stuff a little easier, while still keeping fitness as a focus. Its just turned into changing HOW I keep mine and my family member's bodies fit.

I am no stranger to the gym.  I have basically been a gym bunny in some form or fashion since I was in 9th grade. I have enjoyed them to an extent, and they offer a lot of resources and tools, but we travel a lot more these days, and with kids sports trying to find the time to dedicate to a gym session was getting harder and harder. Working in a gym always felt limiting to me.  I couldn't run my programs without management approval, and they weren't willing to approve them unless I could prove return on investment.  My training style has never been $$ focused, my philosophy on fitness is it should be affordable and available to all.  I enjoy helping my clients feel better physically and tackle goals they never imagined possible.  Those moments when they realized that something that seemed impossible, was actually achievable AND maintainable. 

Exercise isn't easy for everyone, and with the influx of exercise "programs" being dropped daily on the internet, it can get confusing and overwhelming for those that don't have much experience. For some reason, it makes sense to me and is actually rather easy and fun. Not only was I an athlete personally, but  I have continued to study, experiment, and train others in a variety of modalities over the past 5 years. What I have always seen from clients following my programs were results. Whether they were weight loss, sports conditioning, injury rehab, or just basic health management, following the training experience delivers results. There is science of course to back up what I do, and I take pride in helping others get healthy and fit.  That is what Flying Pig Lifestyle & Wellness is about; sharing ways to fuel, move, and rest your body for optimal wellness.  Of course there is the personalized stuff that I do for individual clients on the business side of things, but more that that I LOVE to share with others. Especially food and foam rolling techniques. 

As I started making lifestyle changes related to my career, fitness was an area of passion I wanted to make sure I included. I have the certifications, skills, experience and passion. I was selling myself short for a long time due to imposter syndrome, and fear of failing. Then I remembered I would never give a client a crap product.  It's just not in my genetic make-up. So quality it is, with a little goofy mixed in of course (you can ask former clients...I will burst into song, dance, and run a comedy routine to get your through a tough session).  No Jillian Michael's bootcamp style here, but I will make you push yourself and remind you of what motivates you ;)

So I finally bit the bullet to start this business this year and have been working on software and application development for the past 3 months to help people work out easily wherever they are, and no matter what equipment they have access to.  It felt like a great model, and I really wanted to show folks that it doesn't have to be complicated, you just need to create space in your everyday life to make it fit.  Launch went great for about 3 hours then Coronavirus decided to make a grand entrance...schools closed, we were ordered to quarantine.  Yikes!

I would be lying through my teeth if I said I was prepared for this.  Nobody was.  This pandemic has completely changed how we operate on the daily, and now more than ever people need help learning to adapt.  So get this...I spent 4.5 years of my career working on adapting things to a virtual environment to help an agency manage the morale and wellness of their workforce. Rather than feeling like an imposter, for the first time in a while I feel rather energized to use this experience to help others adapt in this crazy time. Flying Pig Lifestyle and Wellness is about learning to adapt no matter where you are, and still crush your personal, professional, and fitness goals.  We are here to help and are all in this together. The Facebook page will be continuously updated with easy workouts you can do from anywhere, and tips on how to handle working from home with a full family (including electronic learning).

 We are all struggling, because reality is this crap is hard. Just know this: it may have seemed impossible to accomplish before, but... sometimes we have to just welcome the Flying Pigs of life and just prove everyone wrong.