How I get STRONG.
If I want to get strong fast, I put myself in a room where I will be completely new at something. After doing this many times and paying attention I noticed something, it works. Every time.
One of the things that I did last year to reach this goal of getting stronger is my climb journey.
Before I talk about it, I would like to tell you where I was when I started because that will show you why it is so important to me and why it has helped me turn my entire life around in a year. You see, before I started teaching climb, I promised myself something. I promised myself I would do the work to get stronger. I refused to have a year like I did the year before. This was not a new pprayer. This is a vow I made to myself 5 years ago. I vowed to get strong. A couple of years ago I got a job opportunity in Cleveland, Ohio. At the time, I was loving my life in Sacramento but when this new job opportunity appeared, I really felt like it had the potential to expand me and help me grow… and it did, but not the way I thought it would. I went into that project with a certain level of self esteem and the collection of choices I made for the next year landed me with self esteem that was clearly lower than the year before. So, I had work to do. And I knew what to do, I just had to do it. I had a rough year in my career, my toughest one ever actually. The project fell through, I couldn’t get a teaching job in Cleveland, nothing worked, I dated a man for a year and when I told him I needed to go back to California he broke up with me. All that to say, I had an unsuccessful career year, I was going through the grief of a breakup, and I just moved across the country to start over. It was a lot. I needed to be strong in this new place. I did the work, I got there. After a year of this STRONG work, I am in the best place of my life. In fact, I had the BEST year of my career last year and I’m not stopping.
If you know me, you know this is my favorite sport. Climb is not my favorite right now because it’s easy or because I feel like an expert in it. It’s my favorite because I can’t show up and not show up. I can’t be numb or disconnected from my body. I have to show up and go for it and most of the times fail. Feeling alive has nothing to do with winning or losing, it’s about showing up. There is no better feeling than showing up for yourself. People ask me all the time if yoga is my favorite and I say “Oh no… yoga is like my best friend that I will never get rid of and climb is like my hot new lover.” It’s fun, it's challenging, it’s a place where I reclaim myself and my strength, it’s a place for release. I go there to feel alive.
Since I am coming up close to my one year anniversary for teaching climb, I have to say I LOVE myself for doing this. I really do. I’m so glad I didn’t quit every single day that I was supposed to teach for the first two months because part of me wanted to.
Although I have been teaching yoga for 18 years, teaching climb was a whole new animal. I fumbled a lot. I was new, growth is messy. I don’t do it for the money (let’s get real no one can pay their bills on that alone) and I don’t do it for any other reason except that I want to be in that room everyday. I have to say, it’s one of the things I’m most proud of myself from last year. I made myself jump into something that I was not good at but I loved it so much. I made myself show up everyday to get better. It was not easy. Some days I don’t want to wake up at 4:00am, but I do. Somedays, I resist, but I show up anyway. I can also say that at age 41 I am the strongest I have ever been physically and this sport along with my personal will power has everything to do with it.
After this year of teaching I can say that last week I hit a moment for myself where I actually felt like I didn’t suck anymore. Damn, that felt good. My last name may not be Randel, but I am not a bad teacher anymore. I hope you come join me one of these days.
I teach at Edge Studios:
6:15am - Mondays
6:15am - Fridays
The next thing I want to invite you to join with me this year is my newest online program called STRONG. It’s my best work, which means it will be our best work. It’s the top game changers and tools I used to transform my life from lacking strength and self esteem to reclaiming those things. I have been doing this work for 8 years and I see it happen with others all the time.
STRONG is a 12 week online program that has one finish line: you leave stronger in body, mind, and soul. I will be your coach for these 12 weeks along with a team of some of my favorite women that have helped me take myself to where I am today. All you have to do is get the saboteur out of the way and jump in and follow your heart. If your heart calls, then I hope you will answer. I always think it’s a good idea to ask myself, “What is the cost of me not getting strong?” For me, the answer is, “The cost is too high.” Do you agree? It requires only a short time commitment each day to practice and a heart full of willingness. Since this is online you can do your practice anywhere and at anytime. There are only 20 spots in the program and they’re filling up fast. Fill out the application now!
xo,
Diana