As a member of the school’s fitness team, I was scared when the school closed due to the coronavirus. After a solid win at the state competition, the fitness team needed to be no less than full steam ahead in order to win the national competition.
On the last day of school, the team came to Sgt. Major Scott Jernigan for some words of advice. He said, “You all have to stay in shape because when we come back we will see who wants it more.” Those words put genuine fear into the team.
From then until the gyms closed, I was working out in a different gym every day, trying my best to stay in shape for the competition. I was working on the things we had to do for nationals, like pull-ups and crunches. I remember doing so many pull-ups one day that my hands bled.
At this point, I was thinking that this stay at home school was not so bad, because if I finished my schoolwork early, I could go to the gym and work out all afternoon.
Soon after the news came that we were not going back to school. I was crushed. I thought to myself, “The first year I get to go to nationals and it gets canceled because of the coronavirus.” The team and I were down in the dumps to say the least.
For a week straight, all I did was lie around the house and watch shows on my television. I was not working out like I did when I was in school. I honestly didn’t know what to do. It didn’t really seem like working out was worth it.
After a while, I think my mom got tired of seeing me in that way. She came home after work one day and said, “Alright, tonight you and I are doing a workout.” I was shocked by what she said because she is usually exhausted when she comes home from work. I thought that if she made this sacrifice for me that I could at least try to work out.
After a few days of this, I soon became the personal trainer for my whole family. We decided to work on the things that are not done at physical fitness. We work legs a lot, a part of the body that I and many other people despise doing.
I challenge everyone to do that same thing. While on this quarantine, when doing a workout, I would advise people to work on an area of the body that is never worked on. It will be an accomplishment and give a sense of pride. Yes, it hurts but when a person finishes the workout, he will have overcome an obstacle. That feeling of accomplishment makes one’s day just a little bit brighter, just a little bit easier, and it makes this whole coronavirus situation not so bad.
The world will recover, and we will not be at home forever. My challenge is this: do not leave this quarantine saying that it was the worst time ever. Leave it saying, “Even though faced with problems, I accomplished something.”