Wesley Griffin

I was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia back when Jane Fonda and her leg warmers were the hottest thing to hit the VCR. Anyone remember “Are you ready to do the workout?” While mom and her friends were indulging in all things aerobic (think dance, step and water), I was learning about “fitness” on the tennis court. What started as a fun experiment during summer vacation one year turned into a true love for the sport just a few years later. My favorite sound was the ball hitting my strings and my favorite time of day to play was in the mid-afternoon heat. I loved to sweat! (Still do!) Friendly games turned into matches, which turned into tournaments which turned into playing for the University of Richmond. After four years of competing at an elite level, I found more ways to enjoy the sport by teaching it to others and particularly, coaching at the collegiate level. Insert marriage and 4 babies in 4 years and my tennis (and really..my fitness) days seemed..over. However, I learned that fitness could be experienced in so many different ways. Pushing a stroller with 100 lbs worth of children up a hill? Fitness! Flipping and rotating a king-sized mattress by yourself when your husband is out of town? Fitness! Signing up and completing a marathon in an exotic locale? Fitness! Jumping on the trampoline with your kids? Fitness! It doesn’t have to look a certain way. If you’re moving, breathing and working your mind body, to me, it’s fitness.

As decades of running and pounding on the tennis court have started to leave imprints on my body, I have realized that I need to quiet myself. I need to be more gentle with myself. I need to take care of my spirituality, my nutrition, my sleep, my relationships. It’s not as mindless and easy as it once was under that hot Georgia sun. I must be much more intentional now about how I spend my time and energy each day. I am also learning and living this: comparison is the thief of joy. How often do we find ourselves crushing our own sweet souls with comparison? My spirit, my nooma, is found in connecting with people, showing humility, laughing (mostly at myself), practicing patience and watching others find their joys.

My earliest memories of “fitness” included ankle weights and tights, so its only natural that I just love teaching MIX!