Empowerment and Fear

For me, being a personal trainer and teaching group exercise classes is about empowerment. My goal is to help people understand themselves better and learn how to move more efficiently and effectively. 

My time in the industry has been rather brief so far - just four years. But that follows almost 20 years of adventure-based and experiential education and about 10 years of clinical social work. In those fields, empowerment is the focus: helping people access and build on their strengths.

We say that empowering others is our focus in the training field as well, but sometimes I see other motives coming into play. There are all sorts of reasons for this, but, from my perspective, diluting our motive threatens the effectiveness and honesty of our work.

One way that our motives can get clouded is by fear.

Fear that there will not be enough money
Fear of making a poor decision
Fear of competition.

There are likely many other fears as well, but these are three that come to mind for me.  

For gym owners and managers, giving in to that first fear (that there will not be enough money) can affect their policies for managing personnel and distract them from listening to members (without whom there would be no business). As a trainer, fear that there will not be enough has always led me to greater stress and lower self-confidence. I have learned not to give energy to this fear and instead put my focus on my work.

I still struggle from time to time over fear that I will make a poor training decision. But over the years, the biggest lesson I have learned is to trust my instincts. I am not perfect, and I will sometimes make a mistake, but if I approach my work cautiously and with respect, continue to learn, access all of my senses (including intuition), and really listen to my clients, I am putting myself in the best position to make good decisions.

The last fear: fear of competition, is a tough one. With all the messages I can infer from media these days about how perfect I am supposed to be and how everyone else is having a fabulous time while I'm trudging through the trenches, it's easy to succumb to a belief that others are better than I am and that they will usurp whatever small piece of the market I have. However, I have found that for the most part, we are all in the same boat together. Trainers that I have come to respect focus on learning from and helping one another. As a result, we all benefit and can do our jobs more effectively.

I try to check in with myself when I sense that I'm giving in to fear. It usually shows up as anxiety and I feel a little "off." At those times, I try to stick close to nature and take in the sounds and smells of my surroundings. I also pray to be at one with my higher power and to not let my ego or emotional confusion block that clarity.