Editor's note: Kendrais blogging about being a mom trying to rebound from the coronavirus pandemic at My Rebound by FOX 17. She is married with four kids: a 1-year-old daughter, 2-year-old son, 5-year-old son, 10-year-old daughter and 16-year-old bonus son. She is also the owner and lead fitness coach of Allegro Coaching in Grand Rapids, which she founded in 2009. She lives in Tallmadge Township.
If you wait until you “feel like it,” you will wait all day.
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Nobody feels like getting up early to workout when the bed is warm and cozy. Nobody feels like scrubbing their toilets or mopping the floors after business hours. Nobody feels like paying bills.
Owning a business is 90% hard work and 10% glamour. I remember how hard I had to hustle 10 years ago to even open my fitness facility in Eastown. I had saved for years to avoid a business loan, and I spent over a year designing and building out the space. The night before my grand opening, the TRX beams could not be installed, and I sat next to my mop bucket in tears. It all worked out of course, but it was a full-on sprint to get that place up and running.
Here I am, a decade later, and sprinting to re-open after the COVID-19 shutdown. I’m working all day and into the night, after the kids go to bed. It’s like putting together a jigsaw puzzle of who wants to come back to work, which classes should be indoors or outdoors, what safety procedures must be put in place, which grants to apply for and how often to communicate with our followers. I am sprinting, and some days, I feel like I can’t breathe. Of course, this is not ideal. There is no work-life balance right now. And I don’t always feel like putting in the hustle, day after day.
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But I know this is short-, and I also know that it WILL payoff. Sprints are what put you ahead of the competition and push you out of your comfort zone. And sprints are not meant to be done alone. As mamas, we have got to do a better job of asking for help when things get tough. Empower your kids (laundry, dishes, cleaning) or reach out to a mentor or mama who has been there, done that. They may not have kids to care for at home anymore, but they are still caretakers and want to take care of someone.
I also know that the only thing that stands in the way of you completing a goal is FEELINGS. Too tired. Not good enough. Not smart enough. It’s too hard. It will take too long. It’s you vs. you. Decide if you are going to be a feelings-driven person or a driven person. Take action, lean into the hard work and THEN see how you feel.