—a refreshingly authentic and spectacular memoir about realizing your own potential and building a fulfilling life.
After two years of some brief stints with some modern dance companies that paid nothing, I realized I had to shift gears and it was my first fish-out-of-water moment. I geared my whole life toward being a dancer. It was a scary moment and it was so depressing to me to give up this dream. My self esteem plummeted. I had no idea where to go next.
What I learned in retrospect was that showing up for these spin classes was at the time my way of taking care of myself physically and mentally. What I saw very early on was that there was this very strong mental component that kicked in during the 45 minutes in class. I found that despite what a difficult time that was for me, I would finish class and oddly feel empowered. It was almost like a mini reinvention every time I took a class. I became addicted to it.
Leibson: How do you avoid burnout, whether it be with your personal fitness regime or entrepreneurship?For me, there’s really no such thing as burnout when it comes to fitness. We all experience stress at different levels and some days are better than others. As important as it is for our physical health to keep working out, whether it’s cardiovascular health or physical strength, we can’t ignore the incredible importance of our mental health.
Leibson: Can you speak to your experience with resilience, and how you recommend others develop this important 'muscle'?What I discovered through my own path is how important resilience is. And what I’ve learned is that I think of it as a muscle because it fortunately gets built every time we have a setback or every time we feel like we’ve failed at something.
There’s no reason to continue down a career path that isn’t making us happy. It’s an old adage, but it’s so true—when you find what you really want to be doing, you don’t even feel like you’re working. Have the courage to say, “This isn’t working and it’s time to figure out what’s next.” It’s not easy, but that’s where resilience kicks in. That’s only when the reinvention can happen. I had my family by the point I started businesses. There’s no question that people are waiting longer these days.