One moment turned my life around onto a completely different path, and it happened… at the supermarket.
I had to get through the weekly shopping with my two-year-old son, who at that point weighted, well, a lot for his age. I was tired, stressed, hungry, at the end of my patience, but food needed to be bought, so off we went.
It wasn’t that I never ‘exercised’ – I tried to go for a walk every evening and running after a two-year-old also adds up. But I was stressed with work and life and being a mom and to be honest, I ate whatever I wanted and thought I needed.
That one morning we went to the supermarket and I had to lift my baby into the trolley seat, which meant raising him over my head (trolleys are clearly made for tall people) and then holding him with one arm while noodling his kicking legs into the right holes with the other hand. And that particular morning I couldn’t do it. I did not have the strength to keep him in the air, and the more I tried the more he resisted. I lowered him down and started to cry.
That was the moment I realised loud and clear that
A) he would keep growing every day,
B) I was not strong enough to be the mom he needed.
After a couple of deep shuddering breaths and after forcing down all further tears, I picked him up and with a mighty shove got him into that seat.
That night, once he was in bed, I searched the internet for “easy strength workout no equipment”, turned our living room carpet into a makeshift gym space and awkwardly huffed through a random workout video. I kept searching and it did not take long until I found a rabbit hole labelled Calisthenics and tumbled in, head-first and toes-up. It was partly because I needed to be the mom my son needed, and partly because I fell in love with what I found that I kept going and going and going… and have not looked back.
It has been four years. We have gone through some tough times and life keeps being life. But I did what I set out to do. I run and play and wrestle with my little boy. He is now learning how to hang from his hands and do the monkey bars at school. And guess whom he comes to for showing him how it’s done? Me.
Because now I’m strong enough.
So take a new grip with your tired hands and strengthen your weak knees. Mark out a straight path for your feet so that those who are weak and lame will not fall but become strong.
– Hebrews 12:12-13