We all Belong: The Other Benefit of Joining a Gym
Most people want to belong - whether it be at school, work, a club or a gym. When our world changed a few years ago - “belonging” was stripped away from us. We only belonged home or within 6ft of anyone, which certainly made it difficult to be part of anything consistently. Like most, I adjusted to belonging to my home, my peloton family, mom life and my daily work which got me through.
Fast forward nearly two years, I longed for a sense of community and rallying around something outside of my home.
A small functional training studio opened near my home and I believed it to be a good time to slowly get back to “belonging”. This small training studio was fully equipped with Battle Ropes, Sled Pushing and Tire Flipping and involved working in teams. Our trainer would create challenges for each team which pushed each of us even more - sometimes it worked in our favor other times - well not so much!
While being the winning team was always the goal - the camaraderie alone was well worth it if we didn’t win. I look forward to attending class to see who would flip the most tires, or do the most squat jumps in 60 seconds. I won’t lie - I also looked forward to talking about the latest Netflix series I was binge watching that my husband had no interest in listening to.
Prior to joining, my friend had told me about the program and I was intimidated like most would be once hearing about challenges. The thought of not pulling my weight made me sweat, but once I tried the class I immediately felt the feeling of belonging. Most of the members in the club weren’t the most fit or the fastest, but they yearned for community.
Getting back to training outside of my home was one of the best decisions I’ve made in 2022 and has fulfilled many of the human needs we crave for.
If I had to give advice to anyone, put yourself out there - the world is kind and we all belong somewhere. It may take a time or two to find, but don’t stop until you do. The feeling of belonging is well worth the chase.