I know. I know. I haven’t posted since Monday. Whatever…I’m a slacker.

I start teaching my own class in one week. What does that have to do with the price of eggs in China? I couldn’t tell you. What I can tell you is that I have been working my fool butt off getting ready for J-Day. (The J stands for Jazzercise…really, come on.)

You would think after all of these years being a star student, getting up on stage and leading the class would pose no physical challenge. Funny, I thought the same thing right up until my the whites of eyes turned red, the inside of my mouth became the texture of warm sandpaper and my knees shook like a bowl full of jelly. Not sexy and confidence inspiring. No.

During the month between becoming certified and actually teaching your own class, new instructors are encouraged to lead portions of someone else’s class. The idea is to build up to teaching a whole class. Well, I’ve been doing that and the results have frightened me into jazzericing every free moment of the day. I am so wiped after just a few routines up there that I’ve been scared to death. My fear is that I won’t be able to make it for an entire class with out passing out. I have other fears too - like sounding like Darth Vader or not being able to get rid of the interference on my microphone. I have even had dreams about it which makes me worry that crazy is coming to visit.

So far, I’ve mainly been leading the floor work routines (weight training & stretching and ender) - about 5 routines. But today was different. Today, I bit the bullet and led the 38 minute aerobic section - 10 routines! This is huge. I did not pass out. I did not mess up (okay…only a little but I kept going). I didn’t get stressed about the feedback issue and tried to ignore the sound of my own breathing in the headset. And the big part…I even cracked a couple of well received jokes while I was up there sweating and panting like a cow. They laughed and it was a good thing!

This is a personal triumph that I’m thrilled to have behind me. I’d be lying if I said it was easy or that I don’t still feel kind of tingly a few hours later but I guess that’s fine too. Tingly is better than unconscious, right?

Share it: