November 4, 2022 – The Eighty-Fifth Official Friday Night BeerBlog

SO….I’ve started doing something that I never thought I would do. And I probably have never started doing it because I didn’t feel qualified to do it. That thing is to coach midlife individuals to start dialing in their fitness and nutrition plan in order to live a happy now and hopefully longer later. If you had told me last year or even last month that I would be working with some wonderful women to help them put themselves and their health first for a change, I would have poo-pooed it. And the reason for that is that I had this doubt about myself and my qualifications. I mean, I’m no expert.

What Is An Expert?

But what is an expert? Technically speaking an expert is a person who has a comprehensive and authoritative knowledge of or skill in a particular area. Upon examination it doesn’t say anything about having to know everything about something. It doesn’t say that this person doesn’t still have a capacity to learn about the thing. It doesn’t say that this person has to have a Ph.D in the subject. No, it says that this person has a comprehensive and authoritative knowledge or skill in an area.

I have been active all my life, raced bicycles competitively, coached a junior cycling team for many years, have put my own self through the paces of aerobic and resistance training, have put together and followed a clean nutrition plan, but yet I felt the need to get my Certified Personal Trainer certification for what I thought would be proof to others that I was an “expert” in this thing. But in the end I understand that I only needed to prove that to myself.

Staying In My Lane

Am I a doctor or nutritionist? No. Nor do I want to be. Have I been physically active and nutrition focused for an extended amount of time. Yes. Do I have knowledge to share with people who are just beginning to really want to focus on getting a handle on their well-being as they age. Absolutely. And that is my lane.

I once had a coach tell me something very important… (Note that all the best coaches have coaches of their own.) She told me that I don’t have to be at the top of some mountain of information somewhere to be able to share with or help others, I just have to be further along on the path to the top. It’s my job to reach back and help those behind me along that same path.

It Gets You To Thinking

So what are you an expert in or at? Is there something that you would like to share with others, to help them with, but have been stopped with the mental block of “being an expert” or afraid to be found out to not be an expert? I say look past that and imagine all the guidance you could be giving to help someone else along your same path if you could just have more confidence in yourself and what you already know.

What kind of mindset shift do you need to stop doubting yourself? We don’t get to be this age without gaining an immense amount of experience and experiences. Just like those that are even older than we are. This knowledge is a gift to share. What are you going to do with yours?

What I’m Doing

I’m working with these women on a Midlife Health KickStart. I cannot wait to see what they do in prioritizing themselves and their needs. After that, maybe I’ll do more coaching or create a Midlife Health Action Plan where I create aerobic and resistance workouts for women in their midlife. I don’t know where I’ll land, but I’ve got people to help right now and as an empty nester in this stage of life, that feels amazing.

So what can you do? How can you help someone else? What thing are you good at or have experience in that you can put aside your self doubt long enough to really make an impact on someone else? Remember, you didn’t get to where you are without becoming an expert in SOMETHING. Share it.

Happy Birthday Cathy!

LLM