A little more than a month ago, one of my sorority sisters encouraged me to join a yoga class to help accomplish my fitness goals. For years, I’ve wanted to get into better physical condition: build strength and endurance. However, this is one area I’ve struggled with in accomplishing the goals and plan I set for myself.

With renewed excitement, I began to research classes, and then I remembered a student I went to high school with who taught yoga. I reached out to her and learned she had relocated and was teaching only virtual classes. Yikes! I was not sure virtual would help me stay disciplined, but I decided to give it a try. After the first virtual class with L.I.F.E by Marina, I was hooked, not only on the exercise, but on the way Marina conducted her classes.

Because of everything combined, and in addition to regular classes, I decided to invest in five of Marina’s personal training sessions to learn the yoga basics. All other physical fitness journeys I started, I quit. Yoga is HARD work. Yoga is an exercise that would allow me to bow out gracefully, without shame. But yoga is relaxing. It is confidence building. Yoga provides focus and it motivates me to want to push myself more.

Marina is extremely encouraging during class. She reminds me not to focus on the difficult but to focus on the fact that I am indeed doing the exercises. I am where I am today with my goal because I stuck with it, and I will be even stronger tomorrow. Each time I’ve wanted to cancel so I could sleep longer or because I wasn’t sure I would ever reach a Marina’s level of strength, I whispered to myself, “Stick with it, Morgan. You are stronger today than you were on the first day.”

As we settle into this new year, there will be many goals we set and many plans we make. This new year, like other years, will have some difficult milestones and discouraging days, but if we “stick with it,” each day will bring us one step closer to accomplishing our goals.

Ps. I finished ALL five sessions. I stuck with it!