Be Happy; Do What You Want.

Source - Typcut.com

Have you ever thought about what makes you happy? I’m not talking about a nice cold beer on a sunny afternoon or a basket of puppies, happy.  I’m talking about what truly makes you happy deep down in the depths of your heart, happy.

If your answer is yes, then you’re farther along than most.  Farther along than me up until recently.  If your answer is no, then take a minute, hell take thirty if you need them, and take some time to think about what makes you happy.  What genuinely makes you happy.

For the past few years, I’ve said the following sentence a lot; “I want to be a personal trainer”.  I’ve taken a few courses here and there, working my way towards becoming a personal trainer, but I never really taken that next step that I needed to take to get me to where I needed to be.  I’ve taken three personal training courses and I’ve done the practical exams but I’ve never stepped up to do the written exams.  On top of that, I never really got myself into a position to be in a gym and start working towards something that I say makes me happy and that I say is something I love.  I was kind of scared to.

I’m not sure what I was scared for.  I love being healthy. I love fitness. I love helping people. So why was I so unsure about getting into something that I loved?  Was I scared of failure? Was I scared of leaving a career that I’ve known for over twelve years and that I’m good at? Was I scared to be happy?

I think that “yes” is the correct answer to all of those questions.

On March 1st, 2012 I sent this email to a local gym here in town.  That email was inspired by this post, which was inspired by a simple sentence; “If you don’t like something, change it”.

Pretty simple stuff when you think about it for a second, isn’t it?

Since sending that email to John at Just Fitness, he actually reached out to me and hired me on at his gym.  I was initially hired to work behind the counter and to help with some marketing and communications stuff, but the ultimate goal for both of us was to have me start working as a personal trainer.

I’ve been working at Just Fitness now for almost two months and Wednesday night, I taught my first Elite Fitness class. It wasn’t my own workout as I was filling in for someone, but holy flippin’ hell… That’s pretty exciting shit!  And on top of that, starting this Saturday, I’m going to be running my own class EVERY Saturday at 9 and 10 am, indefinitely.

I’m finally on the right track to being happy. (I should say happier, because I’m not sad or miserable). It has all been a process, but it goes to show you that if you put your mind and heart into something that you truly love and that makes you happy, you can be successful.  Now, this is just the start for me. I’m still doing my fulltime job and I plan on doing it for the foreseeable future, but at least I’m taking a step in the right direction to do what I want and what makes me happy.

I still love marketing and communications and social media and business development and to be honest, I don’t think I’ll ever give that stuff up.  It’s what I’ve been doing for over twelve years and I love what I do.  But I’m also working towards a bigger and greater end goal and I can’t wait until it all comes to fruition.

Next on my professional to do list is to work on some projects that have meaning to me.  Projects that I care about. Projects that make me happy.  Something that will make a change.  I still don’t know what those projects are, but I’m looking for them.  I also want to get another Personal Training certification and I want to get an Olympic Lifting certification.

As for my personal life, as you know, I just got engaged, so obviously, that makes me happy.  It’s only been a week, so no huge plans yet, but that is the next step.  We also want to do some travelling again and I want to learn photography.

These are the things that make me happy.

So, did you take the time to think about what makes you happy?  Are you doing it? Are you working towards it? Do you have a plan?

What do you like to do?  What makes YOU happy?