Next up in our series is Instructor Erin, a 36-year old accountant by day, who lives with her husband (Erick), stepdaughter (Kam), two dogs (Remmy and Izzy) and a leopard gecko (Cupcake). She began her pole journey in 2018 and in 2019 bought herself an elite membership as a birthday present. Read more about her below!
Q: Tell us about the first class you took. What was it like?
A: I took beginner pole first. I don’t remember too much about it because it was quite some time ago, but what I do remember is that it was fun, it left me feeling accomplished and good about myself, and it also left me with such tired arms that I wondered who put bricks in my purse when it was over.
Q: What advice would you give to women who feel too intimidated to start?
A: I would say to go with a friend if you’re too scared to start on your own or to change the perspective and look at it as being brave and trying something new for yourself. New experiences that we are brave enough to try often leave us feeling empowered, successful, and even impressed with ourselves!
Q: What is your favorite apparatus?
A: Ooo, this is a tough question. When I tried intro to aerial hoop was BY FAR my favorite and silks was by far my least favorite. Now I’d say silks is actually my favorite. Don’t get me wrong, I still love hoop, but there’s just something so beautiful about silks poses and about the effort that goes into getting into them.
Q: How do you stay personally motivated to train?
A: This has been a challenge for me in the recent past. It’s never that I don’t want to train, but life changes a lot over the course of years. I started at the studio when I was single, a good chunk of the time I was working remotely, and I had a lot more free time. Now being married, having a daughter, and going back to an office job, that free time is significantly less. But when I have time, my motivation comes from a couple sources. First is wanting to learn and grow for all of the students at AD. I always want to be my best so I can share that with all of you. I also want to be my best and learn and grow for myself too. It’s something that makes me feel confident and pretty, and accomplished, and proud. The other motivation that has been helpful in the past is having a buddy to train with. When you have someone to hold you accountable to showing up and to trying the hard things, it makes everything easier.
Q: Do you ever get hit with imposter syndrome? How do you handle it?
A: Oh my gosh, ALL. THE. TIME. When I first became an instructor, I was so proud of what I could do, I felt so confident and I was always happy with how quickly a lot of things came to me. Then I saw others. I saw instructors who could do things I had never even dreamed of. I tried things that were outside of my skill level (with a heavy spot of course) and definitely wasn’t always successful. I felt like I was a failure and I didn’t belong. And now that my personal life has taken a different direction and the time I have to train isn’t the same, I see people I used to be in classes with have significantly surpassed my skillset. I think it’s a hard thing that almost every single person deals with. I’m not sure if I’ve even figured out or mastered how to deal with it, but I do try to remind myself that my life priorities have shifted and changed and I’ve worked on being more comfortable asking people to teach me something cool I see them working on. I try to remember everyone’s journey is different and we all have our strengths and our opportunities. And most of all, I try to remind myself that I’m my only critic inside those four walls. No other instructor or student is sitting there looking at me and saying “you should be farther” or “you suck” or “you don’t belong”. It’s all in my head. I try to remember that what my body CAN do is amazing and to be remember how far I’ve come and be grateful for that.
Q: Which do you prefer – performing in shows or helping others perform?
A: Definitely helping others perform. I’ve always enjoyed helping other people. When I became an instructor it was because I wanted to be a part of bringing the same joy and confidence and positive experience to every student I had at AD – just like it had done for me!
Q: What makes the ADWI community special to you?:
A: The support, the genuine care and kindness, the encouragement. When I see faces I haven’t seen for a while the excitement to see each other again and catch up like nothing every changed, the celebration of each other’s successes, the kindness, the support in good times and difficult times. The community at AD is like no other and I’ll always treasure it!
