posted on May 25, 2022
Most of us have a natural aversion to change. Change occurs even when we don’t want it to or expect it to.
Speaking of change, for those of you who may not know me, here’s a quick background on how I ended up where I am today: I had started working part time at UF back in June 2020 up until around April 2021. I then decided to make the move across the country to Denver, Colorado to pursue a career in clinical research. After about only 3 months of living in Colorado, I began to feel very sick and very unlike my usual self. Several months later, and several hospital visits later, I had finally met a team of Physicians and Cardiologists who recognized that I have a heart condition called Supraventricular Tachycardia, more specifically Atrial Tachycardia, which is the least common of its form. This is a condition where my heart will randomly beat abnormally and rapidly for no particular reason at all, which causes me to feel very tired, confused, and a little bit scared.
When I had first found out what was going on, the news hit me hard. I had been about 3 years into a successful and consistent fitness/training journey, and all of that came to a halt because I was afraid of having “episodes” while exercising. This was all new to me, and I didn’t want to push myself and see what my limits might be without knowing the possible outcome of the situation. I even worked at a local gym in Denver for a while and didn’t train there even once.
I ended up taking way too much time away from exercising, and I basically became a couch potato. As I mentioned before, I was scared, and so I didn’t really want to change my lazy habits. I then made the move back to the Burgh in late December 2021 and had started a full-time position here at UF in January. I became surrounded by colleagues and gym members who all come in to UF every day with the same goal in mind: to be better. Whether that be a better lifter, or even just a better person, it still involves being a better you. This helped me to overcome my personal resistance to change and begin adding lifting and training to my weekly routine again. I want to give a special shoutout to Curtis who allowed me to jump in on his training sessions back in January when I had first started up again. Also, a special shoutout to Todd who allows me to jump in on his training sessions and some of his weekly bike rides around the city to keep me accountable for adding some cardio into my lifestyle. And finally, shoutout to CeJ, Miranda, and Fawn who have all trained with me along the way and have helped me stay accountable (also a big S/O to the rest of the Team at UF for being an awesome crew to come in and work with everyday). I’m happy to say I have hit some personal PR’s within the past month, signed up for my first meet, and I feel great about it. I’m excited to continue to build those numbers up in the future.
From this experience, I have learned to cultivate a mindset that embraces the changes within ourselves, acquire a positive attitude towards change, and adopt a personal growth mindset.
Toria
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