Kendra is a mom, wife and fitness enthusiast. 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. They also have an 11-year-old Weimaraner dog. A native to Grand Rapids, she graduated from Calvin College with a B.A. in exercise science and played four years of collegiate basketball. She was recently nominated as a Distinguished Alumni. She is the owner and lead coach of Allegro Coaching in Grand Rapids, which she founded in 2009. There, she provides oversight and direction to all the corporate coaching models, product development and producing “one-of-a-kind” results as a personal trainer. She does a variety of community presentations and corporate consulting in addition to teaching group fitness and 1-to-1 trainings at the studio. She lives in Tallmadge Township.
I’m sick of wearing masks every day. But I do it because I know that it helps. It’s hot, sticky and claustrophobic for me. But the worst part is not being to understand what someone is trying to say to you. We’ve all been there and it’s super frustrated. To not be heard or to not be understood. And, since we are all living with added stress and emotions as it is, the conversation can get heated or abruptly cut in half.
This past weekend I attended a wedding in Indiana, since you can have more people at an outdoor venue and less restrictions than in Michigan. And while most of us were not wearing physical masks, I felt so many of us wearing emotional masks. Even before Covid even hit. We hide behind smiles, Sunday attire and sarcasm of our situations. But deep down, we are hurting and frustrated. Emotions are your right to have and they help guide you in life. When we ignore them or push them aside, we never truly deal with them and they get bottled inside for too long.
Being the only gym owner at the wedding, I felt like everyone was playing the sympathy card for me. And I get it. It does suck to be closed down for almost six months. But then I hid behind my mask and told friends that there has been some good through this situation. More time with my kids, more time to slow down and get things done around the house, blah blah blah. And don’t get me wrong- that’s been a huge blessing for my family but it still hurts to have a business taken out from underneath you.
I’m going to do better with being honest with my feelings and not hiding behind “perfect”, “okay” or “making the best of it” because some days, I’m not. And most of us are not either. Let’s embrace this messy, shitty year we are going through and show a little extra kindness AND authenticity behind the mask.
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