Recently I was working out at the gym when a personal trainer approached and said he saw me there a lot and that I was dedicated. I said I liked coming in about four days a week. Then he said he noticed I do the same routine much of the time. Very true, too, I said. He asked if I wanted some suggestions and I said, “Maybe next week. I’m very busy this week.”

Well, I found myself avoiding him the next few days. There was even resistance coming up. Finally, I saw the merit in change and approached him the following week. He took me into an empty studio, put a mat on the floor and started showing me some exercises.

“I’m not doing that one,” I said.

“Why not?” he asked.

“I don’t like it,” I said. “Let’s find something else that works that body part.”

This went on every time he showed me something new. At one point, I got on the floor to try something he suggested and then just looked up at him exasperated.

“What are your rates?” I said.

He burst out laughing, as my response had come from seemingly nowhere. But really, it came because my inner life coach realized all the resistance meant something big and that I needed to pay attention to it in a big way.

So I hired him on the spot. And was sore the next day. And it was glorious.