I believe I can AND I can because I believe by Jay Duplessie

So often quotes come to me in class, during a drive, or any number of random moments. This one hit me the other day and it sounded so good, i thought "SOMEONE MUST HAVE ALREADY COINED THIS and maybe I heard it." I have since did a google search and haven't found it said this way. So full disclosure, either this was in my brain from some past experience of hearing it, OR I wrote a really kick ass new quote LOL  I don't really care because I'm not interested in printing and selling t-shirts. Either someone wrote it, or I wrote it, but so long as you read it and "believe" it, my job is done haha

I recall when I first started teaching, I had 10 laminated sheets of paper with quote after quote after quote. And through-out class, in no particular order, i would throw these out. Things like "If you can read this, I'M WINNING." I would say that at the end of a 4 minute song with 4 sprints in it. I'd talk them thru the race, 4 people in front of them, right before the sprint would say "Opponent one is right in front of you and her shirt says "Winning isn't everything, but wanting ti win is.""  You get the picture. Then that 4th sprint would throw the "If you can read this......" quote. To me that was the one that drove someone to go the extra mile (no pun).

I compiled the quotes, wrote many of them, and told all kinds of stories that would incorporate our ride with thoughts and feelings that I had, and always in a way to motivate and inspire. I was in a really good place back then, and feeling like I would live forever. That's how we feel in our late 20's and early 30's right?? Then something happens. It's harder to get out of bed, sore back and cracking joints. It becomes harder to keep weight off, and wrinkles start to appear. Then the grey....oh the grey. I hear all the time "Grey makes a man look more sophisticated" and maybe it does. I am not so vain as to worry how the grey make me look, for me it's about how it makes me "feel." It's that reminder that I am getting older. The reminder that this incredible life I have is very much like a "ride" and that ride is closer to being finished than it was 20 years ago. Scary shit......Is this what they call a midlife crisis ?? haha

So one story I used to tell a lot in class, and that I sprinkled some quotes in on, was this (summarized) - "Right now if you're thinking back on a better time or place, and saying I wish I was young like that, thin like that, happy like that, whatever, JUST KNOW, that 20 years from NOW you're likely to be saying the same thing about this very moment in time. So don;t let this one pass you by while your missing one that is already long gone." I realized that between my 10 laminated sheets of quotes, and ALLLLLLL my stories that people told me they loved and were inspired by, that I used to have a pretty good arsenal of inspiration, motivation, and an all around passion for life. So what the "F" happened ?? Why did I stop using my quotes ? Why did I start looking more at what Ached and less at what was working totally fine? Sure, the "ride" has less time on the clock now than it did 20 years ago, BUT I'M NOT DEAD YET ???? LOL  I have so much more to do, people to touch, memories to make. And not living my passion and vision for how I used to see the world is only hurting myself. I got two amazing children out of the last 6 years and they are the greatest gift I could have ever imagined. I want them to see the "Motivational Spinner Jay" NOT the "poor me, woe is me" Jay. And when that quote came to me last week, I felt a little spark in my soul. Something was trying to light. Whoever wrote it, and if I just reworded one that I had hear before, who cares. I am not taking ownership of the quote, I am just saying that I used to carry those in my soul and they helped drive me. They gave me ideas and drove me to all sorts of scary goals that i tackled one at a time. So why now, when things are more challenging than ever, would I abandon those things ? It's time to get back to basics for me. Regroup and figure out what it was that got me here, and modernize it a little to introduce the new people in my classes to the person i know I still am.

Here's the message, the homework, the "moral" of the story. If you have been teaching for a while, and feel a bit stale, go back to the instructor you were when you started. The one who used to get sick to your stomach from nerves to be up in front of a full class. The one who wrote cheat sheets on post it's and spread them all over the mirror so you wouldn't forget what to say. The one who laminated 10 double sided sheets of paper with quotes to inspire. Because the juice is in the reason that we started to begin with, and for me that reason was to motivate and inspire, NOT just to tell them how to peddle a bike.

Thanks for listening. 

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