Naive

I've always been very trusting, and expect the best intentions from people. I'm still a bit of a push-over at times, but I'm working on that. And I've learned to pick my battles (which means that I do fight back sometimes). But this is a pretty recent notion for me...within the last year...that I've started standing up for myself and saying what I really feel. My husband calls me "Assertive Lauren" during these moments of expression.

But a few years ago, my naive self got sucked into doing something that I didn't really want to do, and was just too nice to say no. Before I get into the details of this situation, let me give you some background...

I began taking dance lessons at the age of 10 and, unknown to me, had a very neglectful teacher. It wasn't until the age of 14 when a new teacher came along that within the first few minutes of the first class with this instructor, he stopped the class to point out a mistake that I was making...bending my knees pointing them straight forward while my feet were turned out to the side. Proper technique would have been knees over your toes, so knees pointed to the side. The new teacher corrected my error and said that if I kept doing things the wrong way, I might really mess something up. But by then, after 4 years of dancing that way, the damage had already been done. I went to see an orthopedic doctor and was diagnosed with malalignment of both knees. Each of my kneecaps is dislocated in 4 different directions and my legs have grown crooked. There is no way to correct the damage that's already been done (surgery isn't even guaranteed), but by keeping my legs strong, I can prevent my legs from getting worse. So a few years ago, this prompted me to join a gym.

And here is where my naivety comes into play. As a "thank you" for joining the gym, they gave me a free personal training session. I was told that the trainer would show me around the gym and instruct me on how to use the equipment, especially focusing on the machines I was really interested in to meet my goals (leg machines). So I went to my free session and it was awesome! The trainer was really friendly, funny, helpful, and he actually seemed to care about me and getting my legs stronger. I thought I would be walking away with the knowledge that I needed to start working out on my own.

But at the end of that free session, he said, "So, how would you like to sign a contract with me to have regular training sessions?" What? I was stunned. Stunned by the question and stunned by the fact that I hadn't seen this coming. The question honestly hit me like a punch in the face...totally unexpected. So this left me feeling very uncomfortable, not knowing what to say, not wanting to spend the money on personal training sessions, but not wanting to say no because I would have felt bad for wasting this guy's time. So I decided the easiest thing to do was to just say "yes." I signed up for 4 sessions and thought to myself that at the end of that month, I just wouldn't renew the contract. But what would make me think that a month would have been enough time for me to grow a pair, stand up for myself (and my budget) and say no? So of course after those 4 sessions when he asked me to sign up for 4 more, I once again said "yes." And so it went for months, and months, and months.

But after that first 2 or 3 months, I really started to notice a change in my strength. My trainer kept pointing out to me how much more weight and reps I was able to handle. And the best thing about working with a trainer was that, if I had been doing it on my own, if I started to get worn out, I would have just quit. But working out with him, he was able to help me lift some of the weight when it got harder for me, and he kept pushing me to keep going. Giving up was not an option.

It became something that I looked forward to going to. And in addition to being a great trainer, he became a great friend too. Only a year or two older than me, we had a lot in common, had similar personalities and senses of humor. And it didn't take him long to realize that I had a lot of crazy, funny, interesting stories to tell. Our sessions would always start off with a warm-up on the stationary bike which I would start on my own when I got there, and he would meet up with me when he was done with his previous session. So he would walk up to me on the bike and ask the same question every time..."Stories?" And that was the beginning of the most fun hour of my week.

So here are my stories for you to enjoy...