What the actual %$%(&W?! was our initial reaction when COVID-19 rocked the whole world and us back in March. We are able to open our gym on Monday, and I thought I would share with you the past few months.
When everything hit back in March, it was a weekend and TJ was on holidays in Arizona and Jason was away in Edmonton at a course. I was a t the gym and it felt like new information kept being released. I honestly didn’t know what to do, so I started cleaning – EVERYTHING! I felt completely lost. I wanted to do the right thing and with so much conflicting information out there, I honestly had no idea what that was. When Jason got back, we had a long conversation and decided that we should close the gym so we can do our part to “flatten the curve”. It turns out the government would have mandated it within a couple days.
In the days that followed, I wanted to be positive and keep things “normal”, but we had trouble sleeping and we had low lying anxiety all the time. Our minds would race with all the “what if” scenarios and I honestly felt like I was in some kind of bad dream. We, like most others we know, stayed home. We didn’t see family or friends and we had “quarantine birthdays” and anniversaries. We watched the statistics daily to see if we could get answers or to understand what the virus looks like and what our life would look like.
I think that the scariest part of this is the unknown. It’s pretty hard to budget when you don’t know how much money you have for how long. We worked from the early mornings to the late nights to move our business on-line and to try to navigate life in the short term. Now, here’s where some more of that fear comes in.
Jason and I put our life’s savings into building Reebok CrossFit 306 8 years ago. We took a risk, but at the time, we figured that if it didn’t work, we would have time to build wealth back up and we could, at least say “we tried”. Fast forward 8 years, we aren’t nearly as young and our kids are now entering into the teenaged years. They are working on their passions and before long will be off to University. Now what happens if we can’t open our business? The last 20 years of saving and putting away for their education, our retirement and endless hours of work could be gone in just a matter of months. It was enough to make me feel ill. But, if I learned anything over the years, it’s that the mind is a powerful thing. Having a “pitty party” wasn’t going to solve anything.
So, what did we do? We changed our mindset. We looked at this experience as a time to learn. Here are a few of our key take-aways:
1. If you want to do something, you will find a way. It may not be the perfect setting or situation, but you will manage
2. We have been working WAY too many hours over the last 8 years and we need to change that. It is not okay to never take holidays as a family. Even if we do get away, we are still connected, programming and answering questions. We need to set some better boundaries.
3. It’s kind of nice to have dinner as a family. Over the years, Jason and I would “tag-team” our life and I would take the early shift and him the late one. That meant that he usually wouldn’t get home until about 9:00pm or later. That’s fine once in a while, but not for a regular schedule when you start before 9am.
4. I have a pretty awesome family! I am not going to lie – I LOVE that I have been surrounded by my kids and husband for the past 3 months. Regular life tends to take us in a million different directions and I am so glad that we have been able to just “hang out” together.
5. We don’t need access to stores 24/7 and so much “stuff”. It’s funny when you can’t shop, or when it is a huge chore, how much you ask yourself, “do I really need this?” I hope that we don’t open everything with 24 hours access – it would be nice to see the world “slow down” a little and just be present
6. Going for walks is good for your soul. When Jason and I were in San Diego last year, we seriously walked all day long. No matter where we were going, we would walk there. It was really freeing because it was just us. No schedule or time restraints, so we could just enjoy. As a family, we go for lots of walks and I love the conversations and time outside. I want to make sure that we don’t lose that.
7. Our world needs to heal and we need to help. We need to, as a society and humans, behave and live our lives from a place of LOVE. We need to treat the earth with love and kindness as well as our fellow man and animals. If we all behaved from this place and dropped the greed and judgement, we would have a much better place to live.
8. It’s not about me – I am one of the privileged ones that was born to a loving family without health conditions. I need to conduct myself in a way that can help others and keep others safe. I don’t need to social distance to keep me safe, it’s for the ones that are vulnerable. We need to always look out for others and be sure that we remember that “it takes a village”
9. We have an amazing community of people at our little gym. It really is a family. We have been through so much together, births, deaths, marriages. We have celebrated and mourned together. We come together everyday for a WOD, but it is so much more. In this time, when Jason and I needed it the most, our community was there for us and we couldn’t be more grateful
10. This too shall pass. Nothing lasts forever. No matter how uncomfortable something can be, life is ever changing. Focus on what you can control and don’t stress about the things that you can’t.
As we welcome everyone back to the gym, things are going to be different. I honestly believe that this has been the opportunity to re-set. I know that I think of fitness as a gift to myself. It’s not about a score on a WOD or if I can lift more than someone else. Coming to the gym is about so much more. It is about coming together as a community. It is about moving my body so that it can stay healthy and strong. It’s about having an outlet so that I can take care of my mental health. It is much better to take my frustrations out on a barbell than on someone else.
There will be some that are scared to come back, some that think we should have been back ages ago and many somewhere in-between. The truth is, whatever your reality is, we respect it. No judgement. Our gym is a safe space for you to be you. We are excited to see you back!
With much love,
Rebecca & Jason