Recently, Backward Arrow Modern Fitness celebrated it’s 7 year anniversary! 7 YEARS!!
It seems common to celebrate a 7 year old birthday party…I’ve been to many and my own daughter’s is coming up!!! But celebrating 7 years as a business seems much more rare. I have known many people that started something that didn’t last 7 years. Businesses, schools, marriages, goals, fitness…lot’s of things that may not last 7 years….but this business has.
During this time, there have been some great times, some not so great and some huge lessons to learn. So looking at them, I want to share some with you so maybe you can take them with you and improve your own life going forward.
- No matter what your plan is, it will not go according to your plan.
You can have the best plan in the world, but it will NOT go that way. A few examples of things that didn’t go our way include, finding the right building for our gym, getting the right people in the door, growing the way we wanted, relationship struggles, COVID pandemics, regrowth, adding parts to our services, removing parts of our service, rebranding and so many others.
It doesn’t matter what your plan, it will not go how you are wanting or hoping. The question is not, how good was your plan…the question is, will you quit or will you keep working to get what you want and need.
The same is true in fitness. You can have the greatest plan set in place, but something will go wrong. You will get sick, you won’t feel like it, work will get busy, family problems will happen…something will go wrong. There was nothing wrong with your plan! But if you let it get in your way, you will have the problem of starting over again. You don’t need a new plan, you just need to quit quitting!
- Your mental health matters.
If you aren’t right in your head and your emotions, you won’t be right overall. Your health can’t be right, your finances probably aren’t right and your relationships aren’t right either. I have seen unbelievable changes occur in people. I have seen people save their relationships with their spouses. I’ve seen them go from a job where they would likely be fired, to promoted to manager, to promoted to even higher positions. I’ve seen people stop taking medications, both for physical problems and for emotional stability too. I’ve witnessed people stop counseling, because it is no longer needed. I’ve seen people stop taking drugs, stop smoking, improve their eating disorder and many other issues that improve their mental health.
When their mental health improves, I see HUGE changes in their happiness. I see positive changes in their life. Before starting BAMF, I didn’t realize the importance that mental health plays in overall health and wellness. Now I see the importance of mental health and I think that the BIGGEST help that we provide is not your physical improvement (although that is nice), but your mental health improvement. In fact, I see that your physical health and fitness FOLLOW the improvements in your mental health. So if you are struggling with your mental health, it may be that exercise and social connection are the BEST solution for you, even better than prescription drugs!!
- Your relationships matter more than anything else.
Over 7 years, I’ve seen and met so many people. I’ve learned that relationships are so much more important than anything else that happens in this gym and on this earth. I had the blessing of guiding a gym and a community through the COVID-19 pandemic and some of the craziest social times that a society has ever faced! Over that time, I found that people did not need the crazy things that we are always chasing. We don’t need more cars, more technology, the latest phone, the social media profile or anything else that people seem to chase so much.
The thing that we need most is human connection. We need a family that loves us unconditionally, we need friends to see us for who we are, understand our problems and celebrate the good things that happen in our lives. We need time with these people and the other things getting in the way of that just aren’t worth it. They don’t bring happiness, only frustration. So do yourself a favor, prioritize the relationships that you value most…family and friends are the cornerstone to a life well-lived and when you are looking back at time, you will likely remember the relationships and time you spent with those people, not the things that you owned or how many followers you had on your socials.
Some might question how we have made it 7 years….sometimes I do myself! It certainly doesn’t always seem like it has only been 7 years, feels more like 10-14 at times! We are thankful and blessed for the time that we have been given and we are hopeful for more time to get to help our local community to improve their physical, mental and social health to improve our community as a whole.
To all that have ever graced us with your hard work, effort and connection, we thank you! You are the reason that we do what we do and we are where we are.
A special thank you to all of the coaches that have worked to improve the lives at BAMF over the last 7 years. You are truly a blessing and you have helped so many people along the way. I’m so thankful for you and your trust in me and in BAMF to help others the way that you have been helped.
Finally, a thank you to my family. Cami, your support in what I do and who I am means more than words can ever express. You have seen me at my worst and you love me anyways. I’m so thankful for you. Elora, you are the reason I do this. I do this to show you what hard work looks like, what it means to not give up and to show you that you can do anything that you want, no matter what it is! I love you baby, be light and life! Maverick, you aren’t here yet and I love you so much! My hope is that you see how to change the world and how to be a true maverick in this place.