Because of Change, It’s No Longer OUR Health Club & Spa

So, I wasn’t actually ever intending to write this post. I had flirted with the idea, but ultimately, I felt like the only person who would benefit from its publication would be me, so why in the world would I go through the effort of drafting it up when the audience goes no further than the tip of my own nose? Well, after my incredibly insightful visit to Stephanie’ Spiritual Shop, where my thoughts and feelings about this current time in my life were confirmed, I realized there is in fact a story here worth sharing.

I could sense that I’m in the midst of a period of great change, a transitional phase that is unquestionably leading me to a new point in my life. My tarot card reading confirmed just that (I said in my previous post I was going to give no mentions to my reading, yet here we are, y’all know I can never keep my big mouth shut!) Beginning with the friendship loss highlighted in I Guess That’s Why They Call It The Blues and through this point now, I’ve seen several doors close and yet several more open. It’s obvious to me that the universe recognizes I only have so much to give and in order for me to fulfill my purpose, it had to remove certain aspects of my life that were consuming a great deal of my time, effort, energy and money, thereby allowing those resources to be utilized elsewhere.

Of all those closed doors though, the one that came as the greatest shock and honestly hurt the most was the seemingly abrupt closure of my gym of seventeen years, Our Health Club and Spa. This oasis of health and wellness located in Glen Carbon, Illinois was a constant fixture in my life for essentially all that time. Even during my California Years I would make a point to visit at least once on each trip back. I simply cannot overstate how important this facility was to me. I just loved it so much, so learning in mid-January that a cheerleading outfit specializing in children up to the age of 12 had bought it and would be closing it down was a real blow to my system. I was absolutely devastated and shed many of tears in the days leading up to this inevitable loss.

To amplify my emotions, I would listen to Dido’s 2003 smash hit, White Flag, which I absolutely love, but damn does it make me sad, before each and every visit to the gym once I learned it was closing. Just like the protagonist in the song, I refused to believe this relationship between myself and Our Health Club and Spa was over and I was determined to go down with this ship. Plenty of people I knew from there were leaving little by little once the news it was closing broke, but as a creature of immense habit, I couldn’t bare to leave till I was absolutely forced to do so.

I’ve been told many times in my life by many people – including in various past work performance reviews – that I’m reluctant to change. Now I’m not even going to sit here and pretend otherwise because that critique is pretty much on point – or at least it was… If I’ve done something one way once though, I’ll do it that way forever. I mean, if it’s not broke, why fix it, right?

Well, when I realized the universe was speaking to me as clearly and loudly as it was, I had a serious self-reflection moment whilst doing one of my floats earlier this year. I was able to actually recognize that change has been happening all around me all of the time regardless of whether I considered some of these events to be change worthy or not. Rather than showcasing a reluctance towards these changes, I saw that in many instances, I had come to embrace the changing world around me and allowed myself to change with it. Ugh. How many times can I use the word change in a single paragraph? I hate word repetition y’all, but for the sake of the point I’m trying to make I’m going to stick with this one, but know that this is one (word) change I’m really wishing I could make right now.

Anyway, in my floating, I was acknowledging that my life has changed countless times over the years and how absurd it was of me to not see these major moments for the changes they were. I moved to California. Change. I moved back from California. Change. I deleted the first couple hundred page iteration of Shithead I ever wrote. Change. My computer crashed thereby deleting the second couple hundred page iteration of Shithead I wrote. Change. I got new jobs. Change. I got new friends. Change. I lost friends. Change. If I could grapple with all of these major changes, then obviously I’m more equipped than I recognized to withstand the smaller ones like a procedure changing the way it’s being done at work, or having to buy a new hand lotion because the one I’d been using forever seemed to have disappeared only to realize it just changed its packaging (and then lowkey hating that image change). So, while losing my beloved gym of nearly half my life is a drastically big change for me, it’s something I’m certain I can manage with ease because in the grand scheme of my life, it isn’t really that big of a change at all. Nothing at all like the ones me and Psychic Stephanie can see on my horizon.

Perhaps the most important aspect for me in all of this is that if I didn’t acknowledge these changes (and many others) for the changes they were, then I was keeping myself locked in that “reluctant to change” mindset and failing to allow myself to fully embrace the changing world around me. Sometimes we hear something so often about ourselves that we maintain that as part of our identity, even when it may no longer necessarily be the complete case. I most definitely haven’t completely shed that part of me, but I’m certainly no longer where I was when I was hearing it on the regular. I obviously am still very much a creature of habit and that won’t probably ever change, but making myself aware of the realities of change in my life has helped strengthen my outlook on what has changed, what is changing, and what will change.

It better be several posts down the road before I need to use the word change again because I’ve done burnt myself out with it on this one! OOF!

Because I do already miss Our Health Club and Spa immensely, I’m including a handful of photos from my final days there. I can’t even tell you all how often I refer back to certain blog posts when I’m in need of a blast of nostalgia and I’m quite certain that while I plan on fully embracing the change that has come with now going to Leisure World, I’ll often find myself looking at these pictures, reflecting on the good old days of my seventeen sensational years at Our Health Club and Spa.

As always, THANK YOU so much for viewing! I appreciate your support greatly! Please feel free to leave me a comment below as I LOVE reading and responding to them! I’m heading off to New York City soon, so my next several posts will highlight my days there, so be on the lookout for those! Until then though, I wish you all, all the best!