Becoming a Teacher
When I was a child I knew I wanted to be a teacher when I grew up. I enjoyed school and loved helping my teachers out. Yeap - I was that kid! My dad was a professor at the University of Cincinnati and I would often ask him if I could help grade his papers. I didn't understand why he never took me up on that. He was a graduate professor of aerospace engineering before retiring ... I get it now!
By the time college came around, I assumed I'd pursue teaching. That was all I had ever really considered for myself. But college opened my eyes to some many other possibilities, courses of study I had never considered, careers I never thought about, and so much more! My counselor encouraged me to take lots of different classes and not to declare a major until the end of my sophomore year. That's what I did and by the end of my sophomore year, I had no idea what I wanted to do! Too many choices and the courses I had taken sort of pushed me into majoring in Government and French. Most of my fellow students in my major intended to go into politics or go to law school. That wasn't me. I graduated in four years with a liberal arts degree and no real career direction! Teaching had gotten lost along the way, pushed aside by all the other fancier options in my opinion at the time.
Fast forward about eight years after I graduated and the opportunity presented itself for me to become certified in Spinning and start teaching at the gym I belonged to. I discovered I loved it! I loved leading the class, planning my rides, helping students, and so much more.
Fast forward another eight years and I discovered Pilates and knew very quickly this was something I wanted to know more about and I wanted to become certified. I absolutely loved the teacher training process, the gals I studied with, the learning, the practice, the teaching hours ... all of it. As soon as I passed my certification, I began teaching and looking for every opportunity I could find to teach. Some of the girls I studied with never went on to teach. They discovered it wasn't for them. I was still working full time at the time and trying to figure out how to do more Pilates and do less of the corporate. Honestly, it took a really bad job situation to give me the courage to go out and open my first studio in Nashville. I rationalized even failing at Pilates would be better than being miserable in the corporate world!
A few years into my studio in Nashville, I was having a conversation with one of my students, a high school teacher. I mentioned that I had intended to become a teacher but somehow took another path. She looked at me and said, "But Lucie you are a teacher!" It's funny how I had not really thought of myself that way but she was right ... and all these years later from being a child dreaming of teaching here I was teaching! I may have taken a winding pathway to get there but yes indeed I am a teacher and I love!