Hello. Life is full at the moment but I feel equal parts very happy and very stressed. I am writing this post from bed in my hotel room in Kingsport, Tennessee. I’m here kicking off the first weekend of our third 200-hour yoga teacher training at VIDA Hot Yoga.
It’s hard to believe that we graduated our first group of teacher trainees two years ago. The studio has experienced so much growth in the last two years, and I have too. I honestly credit VIDA with “bringing me back to life” and reminding me how much I love sharing yoga with others at a time when I was considering giving up teaching.
I started our first yoga teacher training when Finn was four months old. They went above and beyond to accommodate me as a new mom. Finn joined me for almost all of the eight training weekends and it’s an experience that I will never forget. I have no idea where the energy and resourcefulness came from for me to develop our curriculum, write a manual, travel 3.5 hours each way, teach literally all day, nurse on breaks and stay in a hotel with a baby came from but let me tell you…it gave me some grit and I’m FOREVER grateful for that experience. I can’t walk into the studio without being asked how Finn is doing and if he’s with me. These days, I plan our training weekends for when Finn is with his dad but I’ll never forget how we started.
(NOTE: these are old pictures!)
If you’re newer to following my blog (or have just forgotten), I serve in the role of lead teacher at VIDA Hot Yoga. I facilitate their 200-hour yoga teacher trainings and help when I can with continuing education for their existing teachers (many who are now past TT graduates!). It might be a small studio in East Tennessee but I am so honored and proud to be a part of the community. It’s been nearly a year since my last visit to VIDA due to COVID but when I walked in on Friday night, it was like I’d never left.
The studio is doing well and we have an awesome group for this teacher training. VIDA is expanding to Johnson City, Tennessee and building out an amazing new studio that will offer the same yoga and barre that students get in Kingsport with the addition of a new HIIT/strength studio and format. It will be opening later this spring and I can’t wait!
Teacher training weekends are…intense. We met Friday night from 5:30-8:30p and today from 8a to almost 6p. Tomorrow we go 7:30a-4:30p and I drive back to Charlotte after. The weekends are long but I love the immersive nature of them.
It took some willpower but I took myself to the gym in the hotel tonight to run on the treadmill for 30 minutes. I was wiped out after the training day but needed to move my body and do something for myself after spending all day giving energy to others. I kept it super easy and watched Dream Home Makeover on my phone while I ran and I felt so much better after.
When I got back to the room I took a hot shower and ordered a chicken quesadilla for dinner. A cupcake is on deck for dessert when I finish this post.
Circling back to how I started this rambling discussion…I love my work…very much…but it is difficult to find a sustainable work/life balance when…
- I don’t have traditional work hours and regularly work weekends and nights
- I travel for work sometimes
- I am self-employed and much of that work is on a contract/temporary basis
- I am in the process of launching an online start-up fitness business
- I’m a single mom
There have been many times when I’ve wondered if I should go back to a “traditional” 9-5 kind of job but I LOVE MY WORK SO MUCH! I am willing to do the nights and weekends and deal with the uncertainty because the reward is so worth it for me personally.
Mostly, I share this because I know a lot of you are stressed about work and parenting right now too. The reasons may be different than mine but they are all valid nonetheless.
As a working and single mom, I always feel like I’m dropping the ball whether it’s something I need to do for work or time/energy/attention that I want to give Finn, family and friends. Add dating and relationships into the mix and (insert the mind blown emoji here)…it’s a lot. I often wonder if it’s truly possible to have it all. I feel like I can have most of it, but not all of it at the same time.
At the end of the day, I choose to focus on how grateful I am to have work that I love, a comfortable and cozy home, a supportive family, wonderful friends and the sweetest, smartest, most affectionate child that I could ever dream of. This picture of Finn is an adequate description of most days of my life.
Take the leap, trust the outcome.
Thank you for being here. I really enjoy learning more about all of you so I would love to hear where you are right now with work, relationships, parenting, etc during this most uncertain time of life.
xo,
Jen
