Wait, When Did I Become the Expert?

Ahh, Facebook. That wonderful online social networking community where you get to read all about the minute details of your friends' lives. Some of them, I'd rather not know--I really don't care to think about your child's poo-poos in the potty, for example--and I do have the odd friend or two who post every detail of their day: "I'm at Starbucks!" followed by "I'm stuck in traffic!" followed by "Ugh, at work!" etc. etc. etc.

I admit to posting on Facebook a lot, probably more than most people do. I enjoy keeping up with my friends (poo-poos notwithstanding) and interacting with people I care about on a daily basis. Face it, without Facebook, I wouldn't be able to keep in touch with a lot of people as much as I do. We're so scattered all over the country and planet.

Anyway, this post isn't about Facebook so much, but rather my own endless posting about my Odyssey that has happened on Facebook...and how it has led to friends telling me they have been inspired by me to go to the gym, or to think about their eating habits...a few have even felt inspired to strap on the running shoes and hit the road. God knows that's not an easy thing to get into. And lately, I've been getting the odd message here and there, asking me for advice. What do you eat? How did you get into running? Should I strength train?

Of course, I'm flattered. I loved receiving a private message from a high school friend telling me she'd gone to the gym recently, inspired by me. "I felt like an alien," she said. I had to laugh as I replied, "So did I, at first!"  Every time I get a message like this, I respond with the same positive, you-can-do-this tone that I try to always use on Facebook (I could write a whole post about the Negative Nellies, believe me).

It's the messages asking for advice that leave me feeling both flattered and a little out of my element. I am, obviously, not a certified personal trainer or nutritionist. I have acquired some knowledge of these things through my own personal journey, and I know exactly what works...for me. So I feel a little odd, sometimes, offering diet or exercise advice to friends, because no matter how well-intentioned I am, I do not know the physical and/or mental limitations towards exercise these friends may or may not have. An exercise that is easy for me may cause strain on someone else. A dietary trick that works for me may wreak havoc on another. I just don't know.

That said, I enjoy giving people little bits of advice--general things like, "What's worked for me is..." My friends are smart enough to know that I'm not pushing a program or agenda on them (and most of them, if they saw my workout plans, would run screaming for the hills--some of the exercises I do, after three years of learning this stuff, are hard).

When it comes to running, I always tell people to start where they are. You can't force speed or endurance, you have to build them. And you have to listen to your body and figure out that fine line between giving up because of a little bit of pain and, "Oh, crap, that's an injury!" You have to know you're healthy enough to exercise (talk to your doctors, people!) and all that jazz. So when people ask me how they might get into running, I generally point out Couch to 5K (which I did not have the luxury of using, as one G. the Meanie threw me into the deep end with a mile-and-a-half non-stop run one day and then expected me to do this all the time forever and ever amen).

Recently, Mom and Dad suggested I look into training to be a trainer. The idea sounds appealing, but I know that there are a lot of trainers out there and it would be hard to find my own niche in the industry. Sometimes I think of going back to school and getting some courses in fitness and nutrition so I could get a credential or authorization to teach these subjects in school...even as our schools cut these subjects (along with the subject I'm already credentialed in--music). As fitness and health have become larger focuses in my life, my desire to help people makes me want to learn more and get in a position to possibly help them in the same way G. the Meanie and M. the Reasonable have helped me.

(Speaking of M.--he liked my recent article on Divine Caroline so much he wants to share it on our gym's Facebook page. Flattered, indeed!)

At this point, all of this is just musing on my part. I'm starting a music teaching position in two weeks--it's very part-time but it's a start. I have a lot of possible opportunities coming my way, so the very idea of pursuing another career path is on the back burner, simmering.

But it's there.