A long time ago in (what now seems to be) a galaxy far, far away…

I was a contestant in an “Aerobic Competition.”

It was 1990 and I, along with three other fitness instructors from one of the gyms I worked at entered as a 4-person team in a regional competition.

In fact, when I think about it, I can still hear the music although I can’t even tell you what it was because it was one of those groovy, upbeat instrumental tracks with no lyrics, but it’s engrained in my brain forever!

My friends and I had a super cool choreographed routine (or so we thought) and we were excited to present it at this competition.

Despite the fact we were all young, busy moms, we managed to get together to practice enough that we felt confident in our routine.

(NO, this isn’t us, but this looks nearly identical to our outfits!)

At the practice the night before the competition, one of the fitness instructors in our group had an idea to change one part. Not a big deal, we only changed 16 counts. It was good. It made the routine flow better.

We practiced this new way a few times and it felt good. We were ready!

Prior to going on stage we reminded each other of the new part we changed the night before and all agreed that when it got to that part we’d all remember…for sure!

The music started and with big smiles on our faces, we danced onto the stage, in our matching neon-green leotards and flesh colored tights (if you ever went to an aerobics class in the early 90s you’ll be able to picture that…I’m so sorry).

But as fate would have it…

When we got to the new part, and the other three instructors in my group were so nervous they forgot the new changes. They beautifully did the choreography from the original routine.

Which meant I was the only one doing my own thing while the other three were in sync.

It’s great that I remembered the new part, but I wish I hadn’t because not only did it mess up our chances to win the grand prize, it was super embarrassing!

Nobody except my group knew the circumstances behind that big mess up.

Yes, that was thoroughly awkward, but I remember at the time making the CHOICE to laugh it off. The whole purpose of us entering the competition was to have fun, and that we did!

And, we even ended up taking 3rd Place in the competition!

Well, ok there were only three groups in our category, but still, we earned that!

So why do I tell you this story?

We’ve all had times when we felt “out of sync.”

We’ve all had embarrassing moments.

And we all have the CHOICE of how we want to handle those times.

I’m here today to tell you:

“Be You Very Well”

These words were said by St. Francis de Sales, and I couldn’t agree more!

Be You…be the best version of yourself, as often as you can, as well as you can.

Even in times that aren’t ideal, even in embarrassing moments.

And no matter what “choreography” others around you are doing.

Be You Very Well. I believe in you, you’ve got this!

Much love,

Carolyn