Today starts a new direction in my life. After six years of working in marketing communications/advertising, I am leaving the field to pursue a career in fitness and wellness. This is my last day at work and on Monday I will officially be a full-time yoga teacher, group exercise instructor and personal trainer.

In the back of my mind, I always dreamed of a career in fitness. I have this inner drive to help others feel healthier and happier. I didn’t think that it was possible for the career change to happen at this stage in my life until I went through yoga teacher training. We had to verbalize our goals and the person that we wanted to be. Over the course of the four months of teacher training, I started to believe that this dream could come true.

Teacher training ended in April and I got busy with my new routine. I began teaching at my yoga studio and picked up classes at a new gym while still maintaining my BodyPump classes at the Y. Before I knew it I was facing 80-hour weeks where I was teaching up to 10 classes per week in addition to working full-time in advertising and maintaining my blog.

The whole personal training piece of the puzzle fell by the wayside until one day in July my yoga teacher asked me point-blank what I was waiting for. I realized that I was playing the safe option and still hanging on to what was easy and familiar. You see, I thrive on being busy. Jam-packed. Every second scheduled. I just accepted this new routine as the way it was going to be. Never mind that I was averaging five hours of sleep per night, feeling a little out of control of my life and spending no time at home.

After that conversation in July, I buckled down and studied for my personal training certification. I gave up what little free time I had in favor of studying and passed the exam in August. (Read about that experience in this post.)

Once I passed the exam, I sat down and created a transition to do list and set a timeline for my career change. I gave my employer notice three weeks ago. Moving forward, I have a full teaching schedule and personal training opportunities in the works.

I am extremely excited about this new direction in life. I feel very fortunate to have the ability to pursue a career in something that I feel so passionately about. That said, I am scared. Now that the day is finally here, I am feeling anxiety about the transition and hoping that I can pull this off. It’s not going to be easy. It will take time to build up my personal training clientele and there will be a definite change in lifestyle as I adjust to a new schedule and income.

(Wanda Koch )

I am in disbelief that this is really happening. I feel so much gratitude for everyone who has supported and encouraged me. My family, my friends, the amazing crew at Lululemon and my fellow teachers and yogis at Y2 Yoga. I don’t think that I walked into the studio over the past couple of months without someone asking me how things were coming along with making my goals a reality.

What does this mean for my blog? Peanut Butter Runner will keep much of the same format that it’s had but with more focus on fitness and education. Expect video posts about yoga and strength training and more posts with workout ideas. I have always wanted my blog to have  this type of focus but I simply haven’t had enough time to do it right.

So that’s the big news. I’m off to Asheville for the night to celebrate! Have a great weekend!