1000 word post

Hi everyone! I’m honestly pretty excited to be writing this 1,000 word blog post. When the idea was first presented in class I was just thinking to myself “great, another assignment.” However, when I realized I get to talk about my biggest passion in this blog post, I became a lot more enthusiastic. My passion lies with health and fitness, and has been something I’ve become passionate about over the past 3 years of my life. In this blog, I’m going to describe my experiences with both offline and online collaborating in the sport of figure skating and the fitness world. 

What is collaboration? Collaboration involves individuals who work together to achieve one common goal. I believe that in the social media world especially, collaboration is an over-hyped term. If someone works with any given company for example, they call it a collaboration. To me, collaboration is working with like minded people to achieve a goal you have in common. An example of in person collaboration I’ve been a part of is figure skating. I grew up trying every sport out there, like most kids do. I was always terrible at basketball, soccer, tennis… really anything involving a ball. After none of those sports worked out, my mom suggested skating. I was 7 when I first stepped on the ice, and immediately loved it. As I grew up and became more competitive in the sport, I came to realize how it’s so much more than an individual sport. I practiced at the same time as 10 other girls on the ice, all competitive skaters as well. We had 3 “off ice” sessions a week, which was basically working out with a personal trainer to work on our strength and balance. This ultimately helped all of us become better skaters. While training off ice, we all had to work together. We pushed each other when we were struggling, and we were all there for one common goal: to become stronger, better figure skaters. Along with the off ice training, I had an individual coach who helped me with my jumps, spins, and technique on the ice. Your coach becomes a lot more than that after some time, and acts as more of a mentor. My coach, Kathy, knew pretty much everything about me. When I wasn’t landing any of my jumps or spins, it was usually due to me having a bad day outside skating. She would always want to know what was wrong and was always willing to talk through things with me. At the end of the day, what we both wanted was for me to become a better skater. We both wanted for me to be able to reach my goals and go after my dreams. Kathy and I collaborating together to make me a better skater was life changing for me. If she wasn’t there to collaborate with me, I would’ve never accomplished all that I did.  

Image via wikipedia commons

After being a competitive figure skater for so long, I started to get burnt out. I was a senior in high school applying to colleges and was very busy the majority of the time. I decided it was time to leave skating behind. I wasn’t in love with it anymore, and I realized I wanted to experience other things in life. I got a gym membership that year, and really liked the idea of being active. Since I wasn’t getting my exercise in from skating anymore, I wanted to make sure I still was being active in some way. I’d run on the treadmill, do some ab exercises…that was pretty much the extent of it. I started doing research and following fitness accounts on Instagram, which really inspired me. I started implementing my research into my workouts, and realized in order to get the body I desired, weight lifting was more appropriate for me than running on the treadmill. I absolutely fell in love with how working out made me look, but more importantly, how it made me feel. 

image via wikipedia commons

Two years ago, I decided to do a workout challenge made by Katy Hearn, one of my biggest inspirations. I wanted new workout ideas and wanted to push my body further. It was when I started that fitness challenge that I made a fitness Instagram account. A lot of girls doing the challenge made accounts to keep themselves accountable and share things with other challenge girls. I thought this was a great idea, and hopped on the bandwagon. At first, I didn’t really think too much about my posts. I would just take selfies and caption “killed my workout today, have a good day!” Something along those lines. About three months after the challenge, I realized that I can use my social media platform to really help others. I started posting more often to my page, almost every day. I started typing longer, more thoughtful captions that could actually potentially help somebody. I started using hashtags on my pictures in hopes more people could find my page. The most important thing I’ve gained from making a fitness Instagram is the amount of supportive, like minded people that are now in my life. I follow mostly women who I interact with on a daily basis through comments, private messages, and email. We collaborate together by interacting on a daily basis, giving each other ideas for better content, and working towards our common goal of being able to hep others. Our common goal is to help other people be happier, healthier versions of themselves through fitness. After finding so many people with fitness as a passion and collaborating with them, I noticed a dramatic improvement in my social media following and interactions. I had roughly five hundred followers in the beginning, and a few years later I now have eleven thousand followers. This has given me so many unbelievable opportunities. By finding them through social media, I am now affiliated with a supplement company, 1st phorm. I whole heartedly support and believe in their products and get to instill knowledge in others about them. I’ve come to love collaboration because it’s gotten my skating career and passion for fitness where it is today. Thank you for reading and I hope to continue to inspire and change the lives of others.