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Eleanor Roosevelt said:
Do one thing every day that scares you.
In a world where scarey things may include foreclosure, public speaking, Ludricris music, spiders, rejection, cancer, public restrooms, high places, small places, etc.; my fear of wearing a sports bra in public at the gym...on a scale of 1-10 (10 being cancer or foreclosure) it really is a 1.
Except when you have to wear a much smaller bikini in front of all your friends and family in about 4 weeks...
Then a sports bra, not as scarey as public speaking...more scarey than say Dr. Phil episodes...you get the idea...
So it's time to get over the scarey sports bra and be proud of what I've accomplished. What do they say about facing your fears? First, you have to recognize that you have a problem. And, it will be problem to get on stage in a 2-piece bikini if I can't wear a sports bra to the gym in front of a few guys.
So, this past week, I've taken Eleanor's advice.
Day 1: Wore the sports bra with long pants Sunday morning to the gym when I knew basically no one would be there. Good, good...a few gawks from a couple of old guys...but who really cares?
Day 2: Wore the sports bra with shorts in the afternoon when I knew maybe a couple of guys I knew would be there. And, they were, and they were a bit surprised to see the conservative Republican Jeannie actually revealing more than her arms and elbows! I also noticed they were more talkative...
Day 3: Took a day off.
Day 4: Okay, wore the sports bra and short shorts I wear for posing practice to the gym during my usual cardio time. Yep, a little awkward. Saw and chatted with the guys I've worked out with for the last 20 weeks who have only seen me wearing my conservative Republican shorts and T-shirts from church vacation bible school.
But, you know, it wasn't so bad and no one really had an issue except me. In fact, my guy friends were totally cool and it truly was not a big deal. You know, Eleanor Roosevelt knew a thing or two about this scarey stuff...
Day 4 1/2: Evening. Feeling confident! Didn't plan on this but applied the doing scarey stuff conceipt to life.(I'd skipped Day 3...so this would be a make up day)
So, here's what happened. I had not heard from this guy I've been dating for a few days, so I took the advice of my good friend Jen from Anytime Fitness and sent him a text. To my surprise, he almost immediately responded. We had a very nice text conversation and I felt great!
Day 5: Off day at the gym, so I applied this "doing scarey stuff" to life again.
Here's the deal, I really wanted to go out with this guy this weekend. So I--the ultimate conservative who has NEVER EVER asked a guy out in my life--decided to ask out this guy. So, I went to Panara Bread, got up my nerve with a strong cup of coffee and sent him a text asking him out for dinner Saturday.
And he said no.
Well, he actually said, "Saturday i can't. R U free Friday? sorry.. short notice.I drove around for 30 minutes last nite bfore i found bubba. Feared the worst. he was ok"(Bubba is his dog and he ran off while we were texting the night before)
My reaction to the "short notice"? Translation: "He had no intention of inviting me to begin with" so NO I am not available Friday.
I replied "Friday would be late with posing practice and all, so some other time. I am glad bubba is okay."
I then made up my mind to set up a coffee date with one of the other guys who want to go out with me!
Then 10 minutes later I get a text from him that said "ok lets get together sat if u r still open?...."
Interesting... Thanks Eleanor! I can't wait for Day 6! Oh yeah... that's when I face the 500 or 1,000 rep workout...well if it is anything like the last few days, I can hardly wait!
