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Working out never worked for me until I found aerial silks. I took one class 4 years ago and fell completely in love. Since then I’ve accomplished a lot. It took me MONTHS just to climb up the silk. These days I’m so critical of myself but I try really hard to remember where I started. It’s easy to compare myself to others who have come in long after me but are now far more skilled. The journey is so different for all of us though and that is what I have to remind myself of often. I don’t have a background in dance or gymnastics. I am also a 30-year-old full-time working wife and mom who birthed a child during the 4 years that I am speaking of, so ya know, I suppose I’ve been a little busy.Setting goals has been really important for me in every aspect of my life. If I don’t set goals for myself I tend to look up a year later and have no idea where I’ve made progress. Being held accountable is one of the best ways for me to stay on track. In January we started a 6-week challenge at Sora Aerial Arts where we had a list of tribes (small groups) to choose from that focused on different areas we might want to improve. I chose Tribe Athlete because I wanted to learn to train like a professional aerialist. You can read about all of the different tribes and the cost details here. PS: You totally get half of the cost back when you complete the challenge! I’m sharing these details in case we have another challenge – you’ll be prepared and ready to join!
We had our first meeting to go over the details of the challenge with our tribe leader, Jessica. She created goal sheets for us to fill out and helped us create actionable steps to work toward our goals. We were also given a detailed list of things that we needed to do each week – aerial training, cross training, PT, etc. She sent us videos showing us exactly how to do everything so if I could not make it to the gym, we could easily follow along at home. This is HUGE for me because my schedule is so crazy right now and I can’t always physically get to the gym. We’ve been staying accountable through a facebook group just for our tribe where we are sharing our classes, training at home, healthy meals we are eating, etc. We just had our second meeting last Friday to go over where we are at and to review our plans for our next performance! On Saturday, we are having a celebration out at the Summit at Fritz Farm for the participants!
Overall, I feel like this has been great for me. I have worked as hard as I can around my schedule and I have seen progress toward my goals! I still have a lot to improve on, but I feel like I’ve created a firm foundation to move forward. Cross training is key and I can see a huge difference since I’ve made that a priority. I used to want to cram in the aerial classes, but taking the time to take Ballet and other classes that help me focus on how my body moves have been very beneficial!
Thank you to Jessica Jay Johnson and Sora Aerial Arts for pushing me to be the best aerialist I can be. đ
