I was talking to someone the other day who had gotten their 200-hour yoga teacher certification.
Even though she had completed her certification a while ago, she wasn’t currently teaching.
She expressed how because she spent all this time and money on the certification, she felt the pressure to be doing something with it.
I could relate.
I completed my 200-hour yoga teacher certification earlier this year and I’m not teaching a regular class, but I feel the pressure to.
I convince myself sometimes that if I’m not doing anything with it right now, then all the time, money, and energy I spent was a waste.
I’ve heard people say that about the college degrees they get. They get their degree in music and end up doing something in the food industry, or they get a biology degree and end up doing something in business.
All the work can feel like a waste.
But it NEVER is.
I try not to use the word “never” or “always” in my writing, but this time I mean it.
Your hard work, time, and energy is NEVER a waste and here’s why.
Let’s take what I just said: I try not to use the word “never” or “always” in my writing.
Do you know how I adopted that “principle” into my writing? My yoga teacher training.
In my training, we learned to use words and phrases like “maybe or sometimes,” “shift or rearrange,” and “there is no right way to do it, find your way to do it” when we teach.
It can give the students taking the class permission to remove the way they think the practice is supposed to look and make it their own.
This approach is something I was able to take in my writing. I want people who are reading to know that they can change their minds and to find what works for them in this season of life when it comes to their wellness.
I also learned from yoga teacher training that I wanted to invest in more experiences like it. I want to have more experiences that allow me to dive deeper into something I already have a lot of passion for and connect with like-minded people.
So although I’m not teaching yoga right now, the training I got is definitely not going to waste.
The things you learn from one experience can be taken to your next endeavor, whatever that may look like.
Feeling like something is a waste also comes up when people talk about experiences or relationships that have come and then gone. If the experience or relationship has ended, it can feel like a waste of time or energy.
I like to think that if you loved something enough at that time in your life, whether that was a job, a hobby, a friendship, or a person you were in a relationship with, then it was worth the time and energy.
It is a blessing to find something or someone that you love.
I think we yearn for that feeling our entire lives. If we have it and then we don’t, we don’t know what to do.
I’ve learned to be thankful that we got the chance to love at all and know that you will find something or someone to love again.
When there is learning and loving, nothing is a waste of time.