Like, Employed and Stuff

So ... I work at a gym now.

Although I am super beyond-the-moon stoked (OMG I work at a gym!!!!!!!!), this is just weird on so many levels. Number one, I never thought that my cupcake-loving behind would ever even set foot in a gym so regularly, let alone be employed to work out there. Number two, I have been a freelance writer for years now, which hasn't required anything except a computer and a telephone. I didn't even have to wear anything but pajamas. Not even my nicest pajamas.

But starting tomorrow, I will be the ZUMBA Instructor at FitnessXpress. I have a schedule (and if you're local and want it, email me!). I'll have a class: my very first time teaching all by myself. And y'all? I'm pretty nervous about it.

First of all, the new pants I bought - cute black pants with a hot-pink stripe down the sides - shrunk the first time I washed them. And now they don't even reach the tops of my shoes. So I'm going to have to find alternate pants because I don't want my new students to be all, "Yeah, the class was okay, but I kept getting distracted by that instructor's highwater pants." I'm highly disappointed because I had this perfect outfit all planned out, and now ... yeah. I'm essentially pants-less. Damn my tall-ish stature.

I'm also worried about messing something up during class. Other instructors have told me, "If you mess up, they'll never know. Just keep going." And that's great advice - except I have this ridiculous tendency to broadcast every flub rather than just covering it up. I can't help it; it's both involuntary and uncontrollable. "Oops" and "sorry" slip out of my mouth so fast I don't even know they're coming. So I'm freaking out that I'll be oops-ing my way through class and everybody will be able to tell I'm a total newbie.

I could go on and on about how utterly freaked out I am, for tons of different reasons (what if I have gas? What if I can't figure out the sound system? What if no one shows up? What if everyone hates me?). But I'm even more excited. I feel awesome. I went from a miserably depressed almost-300-pound couch-dweller to an actual employee at an actual gym. I get to meet lots of new people and introduce them to something I love. I get to work with a really wonderful team. And hopefully, I'll get to make a difference ... to extend a hand and help someone out of the black hole that I spent so long in. I can't wait.

... As long as I can get some pants that fit first.