Having owned my own business before I remember one of the most difficult things in the beginning is thinking of a business name. I remember going round and round the houses with my old company trying to think of clever and creative names and in the end, I just used my name.
What to call my new personal training business? Hmmmm...
It was one of my best buddies that came up with the name over a scrumptious Sunday lunch. A fellow business owner himself he just came straight out with it. Sometimes it takes someone on the outside looking in to see what you cannot yourself if you are submerged in the task.
Pink Trainers Personal Training. PTPT was born. Such a simple, logical choice with a giant wedge of positive symbolism behind it.
But why Pink Trainers? Why was this so obvious? What is this symbolism I speak of?
In my late 30s I was a mega workaholic, mum, wife, trying to run a home, spin all the plates and be all things to all people. Recognising signs of burn out I closed a successful business to save my health. I took on a new role in the same industry but was working from home. In a bid to try and get fit I joined the gym at the end of my road and started working with an awesome personal trainer.
However, one day the proverbial hit the fan and something awful happened at work. I was on my own in my little pink office at home and felt like the floor had vanished and I was breaking into tiny pieces and losing control of everything.
I had to get out of there. They call it fight or flight and I chose flight. I will never ever be sorry about that choice because it was my turning point. I put on some kit, laced up my pink trainers and went out.
I had no plan. I just new I needed to move and breathe fresh air. I tried to jog but my breathing was out of control because I was crying and panicking. I slowed it right down. Walked a bit. Jogged a bit. Walked a bit more. I now affectionately call this ‘shuffling’.
I sat on a bench and cried my heart out. It was windy and spitting with rain, but it felt weirdly cleansing. I just needed to wash the pain of this awful experience away. By the time I got home I felt a little better.
In the weeks and months that followed I made getting out in my pink trainers a ‘must do’ each day. It was never for long, just 15-20 minutes. But it was my head clearing time. I was able to calm the shouting in my head telling me I was a failure and getting everything wrong. By putting one foot in front of the other I was building a resilience that was going to change my life for ever. I am like a Weeble me. You can knock me down eleventy billion times, but I will keep getting back up again and again and again.
The pink trainers I was wearing that day started to feel like the cape to my superhero self. Having a bad day? Put on the pink trainers and shuffle. Invincibility restored.
As time went on and my training increased the pink trainers took a real battering. Eventually they became to soft and too holey for hard core training. After one training sesh, where I was pushing a weighted sled with my PT sat on it!!!! a whole chunk of sole came off through sheer pressure through my feet. They had to be retired.
But there was something so special about them I just could not part with them. I gave them some TLC and stitched them up. I did buy a new pair the same, but I am never ever parting with that original pair. Some days now if I am feeling a bit low, I put them on for the day and like a comfort blanket they make me feel secure and safe.
Those original pink trainers are a symbol of triumph over adversity, of never giving up, of finding inner strength you never knew you had, of digging really deep, of being at the edge of the void and pulling yourself back, of self-belief, of courage….that is why it is the perfect name for my business. Plus, I love pink. Just in case you did not know.
Leonie x
Hi, this is a comment.
To get started with moderating, editing, and deleting comments, please visit the Comments screen in the dashboard.
Commenter avatars come from Gravatar.