The Thing That Saves My Life Over and Over Again

May 1

Photo of a path to the beach in Charleston, SC

Today we’re going back to a sunny spring day 22 years ago.

I’d just left the therapist’s office. I was completely burned out, and my mental and emotional health were suffering. I wanted to quit my job at the television station, and inside the therapist’s office was the first time I’d named that desire clearly and said it out loud.

After the session, on a whim, I drove towards the Charleston waterfront in the direction of a brand new gym I’d heard about on the radio. I was looking for Tim Church. The commercial said I’d find him there.

I’d met Tim a few years earlier when I worked out at another local gym. Tim is a personal fitness trainer, and for reasons I did and didn’t understand at the time, I knew Tim was the one I needed to talk to.

I walked inside this brand-new gym, left a note for Tim to call me, and two hours later, we were sitting at a table at Barnes & Noble. I confessed, now twice in the same day, that I wanted to leave my career in TV news.

Tim noted that, to him, it was evident that I still wanted meaningful work and wanted to help people. He was now explaining what I’d need to do to transition from a television news anchor to a personal trainer. He was literally mapping it out on a napkin, as if it were the most logical thing in the world.

At the end of our meeting, we stood in the parking lot before parting ways. I thanked Tim and told him I had a lot to think about.

Then he asked me a question, and I’m not being dramatic when I say it changed my life.

“What’s your perfect day?”

He wanted me to paint the picture: What would the perfect day look like? What would I do? When would I wake up? “Whatever you see in your mind,” he said, “you can create that.”

In that moment, I didn’t know exactly what my perfect day would look like; all I knew was that it would include room to breathe.

Room to breathe. That realization unlocked something in me, and things progressed quickly after that.

Not long after that conversation, I’d left my job at the television station, was working part-time at the gym’s front desk, and was going through the process of getting my personal training certification.

After my shift each day, I’d work out. And while on the elliptical machine, ideas started coming to me. I started to sense I had a book inside of me, a story I needed to tell.

When I first began imagining the book that would become Girl in the Spotlight, that conversation with Tim at Barnes & Noble was one of the first scenes I wrote.

The chapter is called “Perfect Day.”

I had Tim on the podcast this week, and during our conversation, I realized something I hadn’t seen as clearly before.

When I left TV, I literally ran towards working in an environment that would help me (and so many others) feel healthy and well. I worked at the gym for about a year before stepping into motherhood and writing, the path that I’m still on today.

Two decades later, movement is still a part of my lifestyle. I have varying degrees of consistency, but rarely does a week go by without exercising. Still, I’ve understimated its importance. But while talking to Tim 22-years later, I had another lightbulb moment:

The thing that saves my life over and over again is movement.

If my perfect day includes room to breathe, I have to create it. That’s the lesson I keep learning. And here’s the beautiful thing: when I make time for movement, it gives back to me exponentially.

Do you know what I was doing when I decided to change careers?

I was taking a walk. I didn’t make that decision out of desperation. It was a clear-minded, expansive, deeply peaceful moment—a knowing that helped me step into an unknown future.

What was I doing when the first seeds of the book (and the work I’m still doing today) started to surface? Moving. I was on the elliptical machine at the new gym.

I completely lost the plot on how movement is a key player in getting you to that place of clarity.

Even if you’re in pain or have a complicated relationship with exercise, my conversation with Tim will help close that divide. Moving your body, in a way that works for you, is not only necessary, it’s possible.

Sometimes life transitions require a great leap of faith. But not always. Sometimes they simply require a reframe, a shift in perspective, a change within yourself.

Your perfect day, your room to breathe, may be closer than you think.