stepping into the new.

It's the year of freedom. It's also the year of stepping into new things.

Monday morning I got my first ever gym membership. This is history in the making.

In the last eleven years I have been pregnant nine times and carried and nursed five babies. A gym membership never seemed to be high on the priority list. Truth be told, some days I was just trying to make it through the day. But since the miscarriage this fall, I have been feeling "blah" physically. Exercise and running used to be something I enjoyed back before I had kids but got pushed to the back burner over the years except for an occasional home work out video that let's be honest, usually meant sitting on the couch half way through.

Mark already had a gym membership so after lots of considering and back and forth I decided to take the plunge and join him.

Monday morning was my first day at the gym. I laced up my sneakers and headed out the door. On my drive over I felt nervous. "This is so dumb. Why do I feel like its the first day of school or something. Seriously Heather, get a grip."

I checked the kids into child care at the gym and walked over to the the equipment area and just stood there for awhile, taking it all in. I felt like a fish out of water. Seriously, I even texted Mark for some moral support!

I made it through the first day without falling off the treadmill! This was an accomplishment since my people watching was kind of in over stimulation mode with everything that was going on. (Note to self, bring headphones next time).

Today I made it back to the gym for a second time. This time for a class called Body Blast that met in the gym. Again butterflies. I felt like I was back in gym class in high school wondering if I had the right outfit! My gym class memories only continued as we started off the class with a jog around the gym. I chuckled to myself on the irony that I am now voluntarily signing myself up for this when I disliked gym class growing up, mostly because it exposed my lack of coordination.

I thought I was going to die in Body Blast but I did it and it felt good. Sore but good.

It feels good to be moving muscles that have not been used in a long time (or maybe ever) and it feels good to try something new.

I am excited to see what other new things are around the corner.

Here's to stepping into the new.