Go Smile At People

Group fitness classes are so much fun right?! A group of people choosing healthy and building community. Whether it's in-person, live-streaming or an OnDemand class you can feel the music. You can feel those endorphins. You can feel the sweat. You can feel the smile. I sure hope you smile at least once during your workouts. If you don't, we need to chat.

I hope your trainer, coach or instructor helps you feel welcomed. I hope they sneak in little nuggets of education. I hope they tell you silly jokes. I hope they help you feel even better when you leave than when you walked in. I hope your trainer, coach or instructor shares inspiration with you. Not because they're jacked or ripped but because they know that your physical health is just part of your whole health. They know putting good in the world is so much better than telling you that you have to do this workout to "burn off" those extra calories. Ugh.

That is why I try to end every class with, "Go smile at people." A simple smile can change some one's day. I'm a Midwest girl living in South Florida. While I've been saying this at the end of classes before I moved down here I can say I have felt it's need even more since moving here.

People everywhere are hurting. They're tired. They're more than tired. They're exhausted. Everyone has something. A simple smile can help. Maybe you're not feeling it. Maybe you're tired too. Putting a smile on your face even when you're not feeling it might not just help someone else. It might help you too.

Many astronauts experience something called the Overview Effect once they have seen the earth from space (NASA, 2019). Seeing the world from this perspective with no boarders and nothing separating us but as a whole instead of separate continents, countries, people. I bring this up because we are not so alone. COVID may have isolated us and continued to show how different we are but you guys that's not a bad thing. We can have difference in opinion and still respect each other. We may have plenty of things to fight about but we are all still existing on this earth together. The least we can do is smile at each other. It's a small way to say, "we may not agree but you are human just like me and we both have crap we're going through."

So even if you look a little weird, or they look at you a little weird, we need more kindness in this world. We need more compassion. We need more smiles.

So, go smile at people.

The Overview Effect. NASA. August 30, 2019. https://www.nasa.gov/podcasts/houston-we-have-a-podcast/the-overview-effect/