There I was, naive confidence powering my every step, a bright smile on my face and a half-full water bottle in my hand. I cheerfully push open the SpinCo doors and introduce myself to the girl at the front desk, only half listening to her too-short explanation of the torture that I’m about to subject myself to. As I walk into the dimly lit room, and the class begins, I realize the error of my ways.
During the first song, I begin to sweat and struggle. During song two, I begin to regret my choice. Then on the third song, the beautiful, buff, lulu-lemon-wearing spin instructor says, “That’s enough warm up! Let’s pick up the pace!” I cannot believe it. While watching her pedal away nonchalantly, the confidence is torn out of me. Humbled, I resign myself to pedal at half of her pace and pray that the room is dark enough that none of the other attendees notice me.
After a song or two of licking my wounds, I muster up the courage to glance around the room, bracing myself to see a group of toned Amazonians effortlessly keeping pace with the instructor. But when I look around I notice that half the class is taking a break, while the other half is pedaling at about the pace I am, with a few exceptional goddesses speeding away. Watching the masses desperately claw at their water bottles or chug their Gatorades in the fashion of a hamster drinking from a sipper, my pride begins to recover slightly from its previous blow. With the knowledge that I am not a massive loser who is leagues behind my peers, I gain the motivation to at least attempt to go faster. If this is my first and only spin class, I might as well get my money’s worth. So, I try to pedal faster and mirror the instructor’s synchronized moves.
To my surprise, I quickly realize that once momentum is built, attempting the high speed songs is still difficult, but not impossible. I still find synchronizing the moves while staying on beat tricky sometimes, but at least I’m getting a good workout in. I leave the studio feeling proud that I at least gave it a try, and with the post-exercise satisfaction of working hard.
Now flash forward a few weeks. I find myself at my brand new internship job, having never worked a position like it before. Looking back on week one, I find shocking similarities between my first spin class and the first week at my internship. As underprepared as any student is, I walked into the workforce with high hopes. However, upon the first signs of inferiority or intimidation from the space around me, I panicked. I felt regretful and scared that I had made the wrong choice. But after a few people said the wrong thing in a meeting or I had a few conversations with other interns who were just as lost as me, I realized the gap between me and my skilled peers was indeed large, but not insurmountable. By the end of the week, I was starting to pick up on terms that I thought I would never learn and wrap my head around some difficult concepts. I am going to try to move forward with this lesson learned and never let intimidation suck away all my motivation. I don’t know if you will catch me at another spin class though…