How to Become Someone Who Doesn't Quit

Teaching Pure Barre has taught me that there are 2 kinds of people in the world. There are people who drop out, and there are people who stay in it.

Now, before you think I’m about to get up on my high horse about exercise, I will tell you the absolute truth - of course I have dropped out of exercises in Pure Barre before. My teachers know the ones I hate the most, and there are positions that are sure to have my leg hitting the ground if I’m not on my game.

But, I’m not talking about having perfect form and endurance - I’m talking about becoming someone who fights for it.

You see, in every class, I hear the teacher say, “You have an option to….”

Rise to your highest tippie toe

Sink down 2 more inches

Get your shoulders in line with the barre

Etc. Etc. If you’re not a Pure Barre fanatic, I’ll simplify things - in every class, you have the option to make it harder for yourself, or you have the option to keep it manageable.

You have the option to take it to the next level, or you have the option to stay exactly where you are.

After watching thousands of people take Pure Barre, I can see the difference between the person who is going to grow in their form and technique and the person who is going to plateau. If you haven’t caught the obvious analogy by this point, life isn’t much different.

The people who are going to get stronger are the ones who always take the option to push themselves out of their comfort zone and past their point of control. The ones who are looking for the next break? Well, they’ll find it, too.

When I started Pure Barre, I wasn’t exceptionally fit or strong. I see people come into the studio every day who are in that same boat. But, when I see someone who constantly pushes themselves to be better, it reminds me what it takes to become someone who doesn’t quit. Life has a funny way of making us think that there are those who succeed and those who drop out, but it’s not so linear. The successful got that way because they decided that quitting wasn’t an option.

I think there are countless parallels between exercise and personal growth, but if I haven’t convinced you yet, I’ll leave you with one more nugget. The person who always takes the opportunity to quit doesn’t just suffer during their current class - they suffer in the next class, and the next one, and the next one. Each class feels equally hard because their unwillingness to build up their endurance by staying in one exercise dooms them to feel weak in every future challenge that they face. They think they are taking the easy way out just once, but the “easy way” brings a long road of defeat. You have to make the choice every class and every day to work to overcome, even if it’s not pretty or perfect, because the end result will be a kind of strength that you can rely on in your hardest days.

That way, when you come up against a seemingly impossible challenge, you know that you can do the hard things because you have practiced them, and you’ve made it before. In that moment, the knowledge that you are someone who can push through will be your lifeline when it feels like things are too difficult.