The Beginning.

So.

My friend, Eddie, invited me to join him for a 6am boxing class awhile back.

I like trying new things and I’m in pretty good shape (ummm…I’m a personal trainer, so I’d better be!), so I was game.

If I’m being embarrassingly honest, I was pretty sure I was going to walk in there and crush it.

Even though I’d never taken a boxing class before in my life.

Even though I had zero idea what boxing entailed.

Can you guess how that turned out?

Let’s just say, it was…*cough*…humbling.

Whomp whomp.

Okay- the truth is, I got my butt kicked. Mentally and physically.

It didn’t take long before it became apparent that I had NO idea what the heck I was doing. It felt like the coach was speaking a foreign language- I mean, he kept yelling things like “jab” or “hook” or “cross” and it seemed like everyone else in the class knew what those things meant. 

But I sure didn’t. I felt clueless and waaaaayyyyy out of my league.

I felt embarrassed and like I couldn’t keep up with all these people who seemed so good at all of it already. I told myself that I had no business being in there and that I wasn’t good enough to be in this class.

Except that that simply wasn’t true.

It had nothing to go with me not being “good enough” and everything to do with the fact that I was a beginner.

Have you ever done this to yourself? 

Walked into a new situation somehow believing that even though you’d never done anything like it, you “should” somehow magically already be amazing at it? 

It sounds crazy when we think of it like that, right?

But we do it all the time.

We forget to be in the experience of being a beginner.

After that first class, I went to the owner of the boxing studio (who also happens to be a professional MMA fighter), George, and told him I wanted to take some private lessons with him.

You see, I was actually super excited to learn something new, to challenge myself in this entirely new way. I just had to get past my ego telling me that I looked foolish and trying to talk me out of growing in this exciting new way.

Our egos can be gigantic stick-in-the-muds, holding us back from all kinds of things we might love, if we let them have their way.

Here’s the thing: “failing" means you’re out there doing.

It means you’re growing and expanding and learning and experiencing more of what life has to offer. 

It means opening up so many levels of opportunity and possibility.

Beginnings are unknown. That can make them exciting, but also a little scary. 

The more you try new things, the more practice you get at the experience of being a beginner, and the more comfortable you will get with those feelings.

Make a habit of practicing being a beginner.

As long as you’re breathing, it’s not too late to start something new.

Leave me a comment below and tell me: what have you always wanted to do but were afraid to try? Go try it and tell me about your beginning!

As for me, I’m still training weekly with George and just received my purple belt. 

Let’s continue to inspire each other!