What I Learned From the Pros

(Or: Don’t Tell Anybody That I Like to Exercise.)

“You can do it, I know you can,” Sue said looking me right in the eye.

She thought I could do rehab exercise, huh? Nobody ever told her that my idea of exercise was shopping, or that high school gym class gave me a stomachache. That I thought endurance was reading into the night to finish a Dean Koontz novel. Or that I wasn’t the athlete in my family. I wasn’t the one with the muscles or ability.  

            All my life people told me I couldn’t, but she made a rehab program for me and said I could. I seriously doubted that, but she was the expert. If she thought I could do it then I tried it. When she congratulated me, I grinned really big. 

They other therapists at Pro Rehab talked to me as if they believed I could do the push ups, lift the weighs, or use one of the various exercise balls, or machines. Sue or Angela, or Mary Claire said with assurance that that I could do twenty-five repetitions. First I could do five, then ten, then finally the full twenty-five. 

I did it, mostly because they thought I could. They always challenged and encouraged me. When I got discouraged, they reminded me how far I’d come. Even Kristen greeted me warmly from behind her receptionist’s desk as if I weren’t a gym-class-loser.   

  

My shoulder felt better. I acquired arm muscles for the first time since I carried my kids around as babies. Then a true miracle happened. I moved on to a wellness program. They gave me a plan, and I do it. Me, Leslee Clapp. They help me if I need it, but I exercise because I want too.  

I can do one hundred crunches. (Don’t tell anybody, but I look forward to them.) I also look forward to becoming more fit. But mostly I look forward to their attitude rubbing off on me. I can do it because they say I can. They are truly pros at motivation and I am amazed at what they’ve talked me into believing about myself. Thanks, Pro Rehab; I’ll never adequately explain all you have done for me.