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Are you living your dream?
 Posted by Trish Milburn Jul 20 2011, 12:01 am in exercise, fitness, guest blogger, motivation, weight loss, Writing By Gillian Doyle I consider myself an accidental novelist. Oddly enough, my lifelong battle-of-the-bulge led me to a writing class by one of my students at the Richard Simmons Anatomy Asylum. Yes, that wild and crazy weight-loss guru. In the mid-’80s I was an aerobics instructor at one of his studios in Los Angeles. But I’m getting a little ahead of myself…
I started out chubby and didn’t get rid of the baby fat until after my own babies were born. Like many people with weight issues, I turn to food for comfort, stuffing down emotions too painful to deal with. My weight fluctuated up and down the scale more times than I can remember. Forty-fifty-sixty pounds up, then down to within ten or fifteen pounds of my goal before sliding back up again. Usually I followed sensible diet and exercise programs. But I came dangerously close to trading my food addition for an amphetamine addiction in my early twenties. Unfortunately, I also got caught up in bulimia for a couple years in my thirties before waking up to the damage that it caused. Of course, I regained the excess weight immediately. A few years later, I followed a friend to the Anatomy Asylum where Richard had designed a program specifically for the overweight member. First, a half-hour motivation class, then an hour of low-intensity aerobics and floor exercise, and ending with a 10-minute cool-down/rest as the instructor shared one last motivational thought for the day. The instructors were former members of the “Overweighters” program. Some still had a few pounds to lose to their goal. When I was close to mine, I was urged to attend the instructor tryouts. Me?! An aerobics instructor? Impossible! And yet I really loved the idea of motivating others to keep working toward their goals. So I gave it a shot. Soon I was teaching three mornings a week to classes of 30-40 members. My biggest challenge was coming up with new topics for the half-hour motivation. One morning I chose the topic, “Living Your Dream.” Sometimes we are unhappy with ourselves for giving up on our dreams so we reach for food to fill that void. We need to look back on those old dreams, and see if there’s still a spark of desire. If so, we can take small steps, like signing up for a painting class. Or save loose change in a jar for that balloon ride. Suddenly, one of the members asked me if I was living my dream. I couldn’t help but laugh. When I was growing up, I never imagined myself as a motivational weight-loss instructor! Actually, I had always loved to write. But I hated studying literature so a degree in English had never been a dream. The other option was a Journalism degree, but I couldn’t see myself as a reporter competing for a breaking story. The next day, one of my students handed me a college class schedule opened to the page where she had circled “Writing 101.” She had even picked up a registration packet for me! What’s that saying — “Don’t talk the talk if you can’t walk the walk”? I didn’t feel I had any choice but to sign up for the class. And my life changed forever. During the second semester, when the teacher read my assignment aloud, I braced myself for his critical analysis. Instead, he paused and looked around the room at everyone, then said, “THIS is good writing.” Afterward, he asked me to join his novel-writing workshop, which was by invitation only. I was stunned. Me? A novelist? Really? (Are you seeing a pattern here?) That assignment became the first page of the first chapter of my first book that was published by St. Martin’s Press in 1989. I wish I could say that pursuing my dream solved my issues with my weight. In hindsight, however, it was my weight issues that led me down the path to my writing. And, for that, I will always be grateful. The publishing business is not easy on the ego. In fact, it can be brutal. I have left and come back many times — too similar to my weight-loss journey to be a coincidence. The lesson here: If you really want something, you must keep coming back and never give up. Five years ago, I was at my lowest weight in my entire life, and stayed there for two years. I was healthy and strong. But the numbers crept back up as I went through family crisis after family crisis, and put my own needs on the back burner. Packing on fifty pounds affected my back, knees and ankles, not to mention my entire digestive system. Last year, my neighbor recommended her personal trainer, who has become an all-around Life Coach for me. I’m happy to say that I’ve not only lost twenty-five pounds so far, I am also in the middle of pursuing another dream — scuba diving! Me? A scuba diver? Really? Gillian Doyle is the pen name for the author whose books have been published under the names of Susan Phillips and Susan Leslie Liepitz. She’s written for St. Martin’s Press, Berkley/Jove and Harlequin. Her first book, RAPTURE’S LEGACY, will soon be re-issued in e-format with its original title, DARK COVENANT. Gillian is currently collaborating on a new narrative nonfiction series, INTUITIVE INVESTIGATOR, with co-author private investigator, Deanne Acuña. Visit Gillian online at: www.GillianDoyle.com
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Hi, Gillian and Trish! I love reading about pursuing dreams, what I call life adventures. It’s tons of fun and challenges us in many good ways. You are awesome!
Thanks, Vicki!
I remember meeting you at the RWA Natl conference Presidents’ Retreat a few years back when we were both chapter presidents. I was OCC/RWA co-prez.
Gillian, thanks for being here with us at The Healthy Writer today. Love the picture of you with Richard Simmons. It makes me want to sing that Olivia Newton-John song, “Physical.” At least I think that’s the video where she was dressed as an aerobics instructor.
Glad you followed your dream and had it come true. I think it’s so important to follow our dreams and learn from every part of the journey.
Trish,
“Physical” was one of our aerobics songs. I still have the 45 LP — yes, there were actual LP-size 45s that we used in the studio. Richard insisted on LPs, not pre-recorded cassettes. So we had to cue up each record. Took some practice, but it made the hour’s music more spontaneous. I even had TV theme music for workouts. Also classical & swing music that was set to a disco beat!!
Thanks again for having me as a guest today!!
Thanks, Gillian! I needed to read this today. And, I loved hearing about your journey and seeing your photo with Richard Simmons!
Thanks, Michelle. When I agreed to guest blog, I hadn’t planned to bring Richard back into the picture. But, as I said, the experience changed my life.
Honestly, what was it like working with Richard Simmons?
Richard is as sweet as he appears. And just as outrageous. He truly wears his heart on his sleeve.
He had seven studios, if I remember correctly. But he only taught at his original location in Beverly Hills, and occasionally visited the other sites around L.A. such as the one where I worked.
He also had his TV show at at that time. I participated once just to see what it was like. (I did not want to deal with L.A. commuter traffic in order to attend regularly.)
Before the show started to tape, he came out to greet everyone and was aghast at one woman’s olive green leotards and tights. He told her that she should never wear that color, that she needed to get something bright and uplifting.
Initially, I felt terrible for the woman and thought Richard had crossed the line, criticizing her like that. When he left to get ready for the camera, I was really unsure about staying.
A minute later, his assistant went up to the woman in green and spoke quietly to her. I assumed it was probably to make sure she wasn’t too upset to be on camera. I couldn’t hear the conversation, but the assistant nodded, shook the hand of the woman-in-green and walked away.
The woman-in-green glanced down at her own hand and gasped. She turned to the rest of us, her eyes wide with tears. The assistant had told her that Richard wanted her to buy herself a whole new aerobics outfit in bright, cheerful colors. Then the assistant had very discreetly passed several bills to the woman. I think he’d given her two hundred dollars–far more than was necessary for workout clothes!
He’d redeemed himself in my eyes. (Haven’t we all blurted out something that we regret?) But I also thought it was classy that he didn’t draw attention to himself as the gift-giver. If he’d come out & given it to her, everyone probably would have applauded *him* for being so generous. Instead, he had someone else slip the cash to her. I thought that was really cool.
No matter how kooky & crazy he may be, he gets his message across. And he certainly is living his dream!
That’s such a sweet story about Richard giving money to the woman.
You’re the one with the brains here. I’m wiatchng for your posts.