Author: Christa Avampato

The short of it: Writer. Health, education, and art advocate. Theater and film producer. Visual artist. Product geek. Proud alumnae of the University of Pennsylvania (BA) and the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia (MBA). Inspired by ancient wisdom & modern tech. Proliferator of goodness. Opener of doors. Friend to animals. Fan of creative work in all its wondrous forms. I use my business skills to create passion projects that build a better world. I’ve been called the happiest New Yorker, and I try hard to live up to that title every day. The long of it: My career has stretched across Capitol Hill, Broadway theatre, education, nonprofit fundraising, health and wellness, and Fortune 500 companies in retail, media, entertainment, technology, and financial services. I’ve been a product developer and product manager, theater manager, strategic consultant, marketer, voice over artist, , teacher, and fundraiser. I use my business and storytelling to support and sustain passion projects that build a better world. In every experience, I’ve used my sense of and respect for elegant design to develop meaningful products, services, programs, and events. While building a business career, I also built a strong portfolio as a journalist, novelist, freelance writer, interviewer, presenter, and public speaker. My writing has appeared in The Washington Post, The Huffington Post, PBS.org, Boston.com, Royal Media Partners publications, and The Motley Fool on a wide range of topics including business, technology, science, health, education, culture, and lifestyle. I have also been an invited speaker at SXSW, Teach for America, Avon headquarters, Games for Change, NYU, Columbia University, Hunter College, and the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America. The first book in my young adult book series, Emerson Page and Where the Light Enters, was acquired by a publisher and launched in November 2017. I’m currently working on the second book in the series. A recovering multi-tasker, I’m equally at home in front of my Mac, on my yoga mat, walking my rescue dog, Phineas, traveling with a purpose, or practicing the high-art of people watching. I also cut up small bits of paper and put them back together as a collage artist. My company: I’m bringing together all of my business and creative career paths as the Founder of Double or Nothing Media: • I craft products, programs, and projects that make a difference; • I build the business plans that make what I craft financially sustainable; • I tell the stories that matter about the people, places, and products that inspire me. Follow my adventures on Twitter at https://twitter.com/christanyc and Instagram at https://instagram.com/christarosenyc.
community, government, legal

Step 228: Reflections on Jury Duty Service

Christa Avampato

I thought jury duty would strengthen my belief in a legal system that requires proof of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, a trial before 12 unbiased peers, and a set of due processes to equally protect all people. Instead, it made me question whether this system delivers justice more often than it inflicts wrongful pain and suffering. A week after serving, my mind still can’t rest.

The facts remain:
Mr. Bond lived in West Harlem at 60 Saint Nicholas Avenue, a building at the cross-section of Saint Nicholas Avenue and West 113th Street (a one-stop, five-minute subway ride or an easy twenty-minute walk from my own apartment);

On or about March 5, 2009, Mr. Bond was moving a couch, wrapped in twine to keep the cushions in place, upstairs with the help of some friends. They were taking a break from the move and standing around in a loose circle in the lobby;

There were open containers of beer in the lobby;

Two police officers in plain clothes entered the building, brandishing their badges, under the pretense that they were following two suspect black teenagers into the building (according to the officers, the teenagers “looked lost”);

Rather than continuing to follow those teenagers, the police officers told the group of men moving the couch to freeze and put their hands up against the wall;

Mr. Bond ran around the corner, was pursued by one of the police officers, and brought back to the lobby. Upon search in the lobby, a folding knife was found in Mr. Bond’s pocket. The police officer tested the knife and declared it a gravity knife, an illegal type of knife in New York City. Mr. Bond was placed under arrest. Eventually, it was discovered that Mr. Bond had a small amount of marijuana on him as well;

As a jury, our task was to determine if the knife Mr. Bond had in his pocket could fall into the broad and fuzzy classification of a gravity knife. Not if the law was ridiculous (and for the record, I believe it is). Not if Mr. Bond knew the knife was illegal. Not if the knife was indeed Mr. Bond’s and was found in his pocket. Not if he had any intent to use it to do anything other than cut the twine around the couch. Just the classification of the knife, please.

By definition a gravity knife has the capability to open by the use of gravity or centrifugal force, and then the blade must lock into an open position. After hearing both sides, under this definition, we determined the knife was a gravity knife. Verdict delivered, case closed. And off went Mr. Bond to serve 3.5 to 7 years in prison. His friends and family members hung their heads and cried. Mr. Bond, tragically, didn’t even appear surprised. He had no expression at all on his face. If I was a black man living in a section of Harlem infamous for drugs and violent crime, with a white judge, white district attorney, white police officers, white defense attorney who barely presented a case at all, and a mostly white jury, I guess would feel the same way. In the courtroom, I wanted to shove aside the defense attorney and do the job myself. At least then Mr. Bond would have had some defense presented on his behalf. I went home and cried, too.

Now Mr. Bond will spend at least 3.5 years in a prison system that will deprive him of dignity and freedom, returning him to a society that deprives him of those things as well. With a felony on his record, finding a job or attaining public assistance will be next to impossible. What will become of Mr. Bond and his family? How will they ever be able to have the opportunities to improve their lot in life? What has this done to their spirit and their belief that our system here protects its citizens and delivers justice? I went to bed the night of the verdict with a heavy heart, knowing that Mr. Bond was spending his first night of many within a cell that I didn’t believe he should be in. Circumstances may not always matter to the law, but they matter to me.

As we left the jury room on our last day, the judge thanked us for our service and she sincerely meant it. Now that the case had a verdict, she told us we were free to discuss the case with anyone, though she added the caveat that she didn’t think anyone would be interested in any of the details. I disagree. After the urging of my co-workers, I wrote to my Representatives in Congress and the Senate, to Mayor Bloomberg and a number of media outlets. I have no idea if they will do anything, but I certainly couldn’t let this moment pass in silence.

I kept rolling over in my mind how a system can hold its citizens to laws they don’t even know or understand. I’m a well-educated person and I wouldn’t know that kind of knife was illegal. If I was moving a couch in my lobby with my friends and a friend gave me that knife to cut twine, could I be searched at random by a police officer and arrested for a felony? I could, but the truth is I wouldn’t be. And even if I was searched and the knife was found in my pocket, I’m confident that the police would just confiscate it and send me on my way. I’m a white professional who lives on the Upper West Side in a full-service building. While Mr. Bond and I live only a few blocks apart, we might as well live in different countries – the laws that govern his life may, on paper, be the same as the laws that govern mine. In reality, it doesn’t play out that way.

I know my jury performed its civic duty and delivered a correct verdict in good faith as outlined by the law. It’s the law itself, and the legal and societal systems that caused Mr. Bond to be arrest at all, that leave me with a reasonable doubt that everyone in the U.S. is protected equally and fairly.

failure, rejection, writer, writing

Step 227: Rejection is a Part of the Writing Life

Christa Avampato

I used to keep a file of rejection letters from companies where I applied for jobs. I may have them buried in a sealed box somewhere on the top shelf of my closet. I hope so – some day I want to make sure to go back and read them. Most of them were probably right to reject me. And those rejections didn’t get me down; they just made me work harder and that probably warrants a thank you note to each of them.

As a freelance writer, rejection is part of the path. In the end, I know I’m a better writer for all of the rejections I’ve received (and there have been many.) There’s no getting away from the occasional (or common) ding. A few days ago I received the latest in a long line, though I must admit it did have some interesting insights and a compliment thrown in at the end. It is in response to a piece I wrote on my recent jury duty service where I believe that the defendant was a victim of racial profiling, landing him with an unjust prison sentence. What strikes me as sad about the rejection letter is that the injustice that I discussed in the essay would be considered commonplace (and therefore acceptable) by anyone, most of all an editor of a highly respected publication.

I will post the essay on this blog as tomorrow’s entry because I think it deserves as wide a reach of audience as I can get for it, not for my sake but for the sake of the defendant in the trial. In the mean time, here’s the magazine editor’s response to my submission.

“Christa,

Thanks for the submission. I’m afraid this isn’t a good fit for us, though. Certainly an injustice seems to have occurred, and it seems sensible to lament it. But as lamentable as it is, the story here feels too commonplace to support an essay. That our codes of law have areas of absurdity, and that minority citizens are more vulnerable than privileged ones, are widely recognized facts. The case of Mr. Bond illustrates those facts, but an essay must do more than that to be compelling — whether by means of a counter-intuitive twist, an eccentric voice, or some other mechanism that either delivers us to a destination that’s different than we might have expected, or gets us there by an unexpected route.

You write well and clearly, and I would be more than happy to consider other submissions from you. I just don’t think this is the one for us.

Cordially…”

time, to-do lists, work

Step 226: More Free Time This Fall

Christa Avampato

My summer was not the relaxing break I hoped for a few months ago. Trips that didn’t go the way I planned, travel delays and cancellations for a variety of scary reasons, and work that took a turn for the insane. In general I felt off. About a week ago, I saw some of the fog start to lift, and then it plunged right back down for another round of crazy. I was feeling worn out, but still laughing, which is always a good sign.

Last weekend I took a hard look at my Fall schedule and saw the work mounting. I made some tough decisions about which pieces had to take a backseat for the time being. This afternoon I got an email from LIM College saying my social media class couldn’t be offered this Fall. I was disappointed to say the least, but nothing is as good as it seems or as bad as it seems. To their credit, LIM offered me the opportunity to teach several other classes this Fall that are more central to their curriculum (mine was very much an elective) but either the schedule didn’t fit with mine or the topic wasn’t my area of expertise.

The unfortunate aspects of not teaching at LIM College this Fall:
1.) I spent a lot of time and effort on the class building it from scratch

2.) I was looking forward to getting into college-level teaching much earlier in my career than I anticipated

3.) Missed income since I now won’t be paid this Fall for class or the work I’ve put into it to-date

And the upside:
1.) If the scheduling works out, mine and LIM’s, there is the possibility that I could teach the class at LIM in the Spring which would mean that the work I did would not go to waste

2.) I met Dudley Blossom, the Chair of the Marketing Department, at LIM. He is even more disappointed than I am that the class won’t be offered. His guidance as I built the curriculum was an incredible experience for me and I am confident that we will do some work together somewhere down the line

3.) I now have time for some of the projects that I put off in order to teach at LIM:
– Working on Innovation Station and a variety of other public education projects
– Spending more time on my yoga teaching through Compass Yoga
– Taking additional freelance writing assignments
– Working on my book idea that uses yoga principles as the basis for personal financial management
– Getting and training a dog
– Spending more time at the gym

4.) Now that I do have a curriculum created and I fully own it, I can shop it around to other schools who may be interested

5.) I learned a very valuable lesson – I will never again do freelance work for anyone without a contract

6.) I can take a couple of weekend trips I had originally decided to cancel this Fall

7.) My normal working hours won’t be divided between this class and my job, meaning that I won’t need to take up any of my personal free time to attend to work duties

8.) Fall is my favorite time of year, and honestly it’s always a better set of months for me than summer. Now I will get to enjoy more of it outside

9.) Having this class on my schedule made me re-sign my lease on my current apartment and not have to worry about moving; for that I’m very grateful

3 negatives, 9 positives. By sheer number, that’s about as much lemonade as I can make. The real bonus for me comes from knowing that all these types of things happen for a reason. There must be something else this Fall that really needs my attention, and now whatever that thing is, I’ll have more time for it. The unexpected can set us back a bit, but it brings with it a lot of excitement, too. I wonder what’s around the bend…

books, diet, dreams, entertainment, film, food, forgiveness, love, movie, relationships, religion, simplicity

Step 225: The Best Way to Eat Pray Love

Christa Avampato

“In a world of disorder and disaster and fraud, sometimes only beauty can be trusted. Pleasure cannot be bargained down.” ~ Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat Pray Love

The long-anticipated movie of a woman traveling through the world looking for delicious food, peace of mind, and love opens in theaters nationwide today. Last week I walked by a swanky home store advertising “get your Eat Pray Love scented candles here” in its windows. Elizabeth Gilbert, the author of Eat Pray Love, runs an importing business with her new husband. That may explain the commercialization of the film. Still, the merchandising seems like an odd play destined for a less-than-stellar market performance, no matter how high the box office ratings are.

The sad truth is that Eat Pray Love is a well-written book, with lyrical language, rich imagery, and some important insights that, if put to good use, could actually increase people’s happiness. The problem is that it’s been so hyped that most consumers are sick to death of it. And the onslaught of book-related merchandise doesn’t help matters any.

Here’s my suggestion: don’t go to the movie at all. I’m not even sure I’d suggest you read the book at this point. You know how the story goes so it sort of takes the fun out of it. Here’s how you can really live the message of finding your own path, the issue at the heart of the story:

1.) Eat well and enjoy it. Stop mindlessly munching on whatever is within arms reach, enjoy your food with good company, and rather than beating the heck out of yourself for the calories, just exercise more

2.) Pray in your own way. I’m a spiritual person, meaning that the light that is within me honors the light that is within you. Be good to your family, your friends, and your neighbors. Stop asking what the world needs you to do, and just concentrate on doing what brings you joy. That’s where the real goodness is. Recognize that there’s something beyond the here and now, and that we are all intricately and beautifully connected. Honor that connection through service, which is at its essence a divine act.

3.) Love. Forget your past failures in love. Forget the heartache and the tears and the anger and the screwed up behaviors of people who hurt you. Get it all out in the open, let it go, and move on. There’s nothing worse that ruining our next relationship by imbuing it with the problems of the last one. I know it’s hard. I’ve had my heart broken in a million pieces more times than I can count. I’ve got a good family and good friends who help me pick up the pieces and put them back together, and I’m a better person for it, even though it was hell to go through in the first place. Keep loving. The alternative is what causes this world to be such a rough place to live – we shouldn’t make it any worse by carting around our disappointments from one relationship to the next.

And if you really want to know what Elizabeth Gilbert and her journey are all about, watch her TED talk on creativity. In 18 minutes it will inspire you to do something extraordinary, and the world could use a little more of that these days.

The image above depicts Julia Roberts as Elizabeth Gilbert in the movie Eat Pray Love, opening today nationwide. I like the sunflowers.

routine, rules, schedule, work, work ethic

Step 224: The Value of Discipline

Christa Avampato

“Some people regard discipline as a chore. For me, it is a kind of order that sets me free to fly.” ~ Julie Andrews, British actress and singer

I used to dislike discipline. It stifled me, preventing me from following my curiosity in any direction I found interesting. With experience, I’ve found peace in discipline. In my yoga and meditation practices it has helped me to see myself and the world a bit more clearly. Discipline, when applied at just the right moment, in just the right amount, can actually set us free because it provides a focus to build around.

Some people are born with an innate sense of discipline. Some people have discipline only in certain areas of their lives. I fall into both camps. By nature, I am not a disciplined person. I don’t like rules and rigidity, and I don’t like setting rules for others. I started to gain discipline when I started running competitively. That’s translated into discipline in a number of other areas of my health and fitness. Exercise is one of those things that needs to have a schedule in order to see consistent, positive results. Work out once a month and it won’t yield much. Work out a few times a week, and the results are readily apparent.

I’m the same way with my writing – I sit down at this computer every day and just get it done. I wanted to be a better writer so I had to practice. Now it’s not hard for me to post to this blog every day. Actually, when I don’t post every day, I feel an emptiness. Something seems off and out-of-place in my life when I don’t write about my day. My financial savings plan is another areas where discipline is mission-critical. I pay myself before I pay anyone else.

So what areas of our lives benefit from discipline? I always go by one general principle: “what gets measured, gets done.” If you need to accomplish a goal or improve a skill, chances are discipline will help. Every accomplishment has a game plan, and if something has a game plan, then progress can be measured and tracked in increments.

And how do we build more discipline in the areas of our lives that need it? Here’s my method:

1.) Your schedule is your best friend. I live by my calendar on my phone. Once I see my schedule mapped out, I stop worrying about it. This map of my time also helps me to not over-commit. (I’m a ways off from that goal, but I’m improving!)

2.) I spend one night a week at home on my own and I guard that down time like a hawk. I need it, it’s important to me, and even if President Obama comes knocking for a meeting about how to fix the world, I’m not giving up my one free night a week. Actually, that’s not true. I have a lot of ideas about how to fix the world so if President Obama wanted my opinions on that topic, I’d take the meeting. But I’d probably re-schedule something else that week to make up for it.

3.) Write it down. What gets measured gets done, and I’m horrible at remembering my own progress. I have to write it down so I can refer to it regularly. I need that written guide. So whether it’s in excel or a note in my project notebook, it’s recorded.

4.) Don’t build discipline in areas that don’t interest you. I really love listening to jazz music, but I really don’t like playing it. I tried to develop a regular practice when I played the saxophone, but I didn’t like it. I just played an instrument because everyone else I grew up with played one. I didn’t get any joy from it. Playing the saxophone made me horribly nervous. So I gave it up and turned my attention to writing. If your body and mind are fighting discipline in an area of your life, maybe that area of your life is not deserving of your time.

5.) Break it up. A friend of mine in college gave me a tiny two-inch picture frame. I still have it on my desk at work, and it’s traveled with me to every job I’ve ever had. It reminds me that all I have to do at any one moment to get to a given goal is to do what fits inside that tiny picture frame. A huge project can be overwhelming. Separate it into tiny pieces and no one piece will seem that difficult.

What are your methods for gaining and maintaining discipline? What’s worked for you?

Uncategorized

Step 223: Small Acts of Kindness Remembered Decades Later on Facebook

Christa Avampato

“Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.” ~ Leo F. Buscaglia

My sister, Weez, posted an interesting question on her Facebook page that read, “ How many of us really know everybody on our Facebook Friend List? Here’s a task for you… I want all my Facebook friends to post how you met me, no matter how you ‘met’ me. After you comment, copy this to your status. You may be amazed at the responses you get. This might be interesting…” Two interesting responses caught my attention because I don’t remember either of the instances very clearly, but other people remember them all these years later.

Story #1:
Weez is the youngest of my siblings. We have an older brother, Joey. When my mom brought Weez home from the hospital, apparently Joey and I made her a cake – probably the very first time either of us made anything beyond a PB&J. Joey was almost 8 and I was almost 2. My guess is that Joey did most of the baking and I probably licked the batter off the spoon. But, now that I think of it, I was a determined child so I probably did some cooking, too. What makes me laugh now is that making a cake (or cupcakes or some type of dessert) is always my go-to item for a potluck dinner or a visitor. I never did lose my sweet tooth. And neither did Joey or Weez.

Though we’re all grown up now, I keep a picture on my wall of the three of us in my grandmother’s backyard. It was taken not long after we made Weez her welcome home cake. It’s still one of my very favorite photos. When I look at it, I think anything is possible.

Story #2:
Megan (O’Leary) Wheeler is one of my childhood friends. I must have met her when I was in kindergarten. She lived not too far from me considering that we grew up in a very rural area, and she appears in almost all of my class pictures from elementary school. Above, Megan is in second row, second from the left with the plaid dress and I’m in the second row, fourth from the left, in the white shirt and purple skirt. (Aren’t we cute?!)

When I was in 1st grade, certain toys were all the rage and anyone who’s anyone had them. My Little Ponies were particularly popular and I begged my mother for one until she finally caved. I brought Apple Jack home and was extremely proud of her. At recess, I remember that the girls with a My Little Pony all got together and played with our ponies, brushing their hair and giving them voices to tell stories.

Megan didn’t have a My Little Pony, but really wanted to be in the club so I shared mine with her so she could sit with us. To answer Weez’s Facebook question, Megan wrote, “We went to school together and I knew you through your awesome sister who rallied for me to be allowed in the very exclusive “My Little Ponies Club” in the first grade, even though I didn’t have one at the time and the other girls said, “No”…. Christa shared her’s with me so I wouldn’t feel left out. ( Not only was that insight into the wonderful person she would become, but I will never forget her kindness even at an early age.) And having the privilege of getting to know you, it was no surprise to me that you are every bit as much of an incredible person as she is.” I got tears in my eyes after reading that message.

I remember the My Little Pony Club and I remember Megan being there, but I don’t remember her not having a My Little Pony. I guess I really did think of Apple Jack as hers as much as she was mine. I guess that same sentiment comes through in my community service work today, my interest in social entrepreneurship, and my desire to someday soon return to nonprofit work. I never did understand exclusivity, and I certainly never understood why more people don’t share what they have with others.

Small actions make a big difference in the lives of others. Small kindnesses and events are remembered for decades after they happen. Our kind and generous acts continue to live in the hearts of others long after we ourselves have forgotten those acts. They matter, and by extension they help us matter, too. We just never know how much they might mean to someone.

Uncategorized

Step 222: 5 Ways to Give the World the Gifts You Have

Christa Avampato

“No one could make a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little.” ~ Edmund Burke

I saw my friend, Derek, on Sunday. I hadn’t seen him in many years and we got to talking about his work and the goals he’s been able to accomplish, much to his surprise but not to mine. He’s found a way to meld personal interests with his career in a way that has been good for him and for his community. He’s an example of someone doing well by doing good and staying true to who he is.

He told me about an interview he saw with Don Cheadle. Mr. Cheadle talked about how much the world needs whatever gifts we have to give. Someone, somewhere needs what we do. We don’t need more training or experience or money to improve the community. We don’t need to have more influence or power or exposure to get something done. Start small, dream big, and just keep going. Here are 5 ideas to get you started:

1.) Teach a free class in your field of expertise at a community center or public library. In New York City, try the New York Public Library.

2.) Give time to a cause that matters to you – and any amount of time helps. Most nonprofits have a “volunteer” link on their homepages that provide details about how to give your time.

3.) Offer to do some pro-bono work by using the same skills you utilize in your everyday life. In New York City, there is a great program to help you use your “blank”, whatever that is, to help others.

4.) Mentoring is a great way to pass along knowledge. Programs like iMentor and Big Brothers Big Sisters are always in need of more mentors.

5.) Person-to-person microlending and giving aggregators in the U.S. are giving a much-needed boost to small businesses, artists, and innovators. Kickstarter and LendingClub are two great places to learn about this growing trend and play a part, either as a lender or a borrower.

I’d love to hear stories about how you used the gifts you have to create a better world!

determination, failure, faith

Step 221: Entrepreneurs Equally Confident and Vulnerable

Christa Avampato

“When we were children, we used to think that when we were grown-up we would no longer be vulnerable. But to grow up is to accept vulnerability… To be alive is to be vulnerable.” ~ Madeleine L’Engle

Entrepreneurship takes a bit of unbridled confidence. Part of an entrepreneur must remain a child forever. Go into a kindergarten classroom and ask students to raise their hands if they believe they are fantastic singers. I bet everyone would not only raise their hands, but also start to belt out their favorite tunes. Ask the same question to a room full of adults and you’d be lucky to get a hand or two. That hand or two belongs to people who are innately entrepreneurs. If we really want to make it with our own ideas turned into businesses, we need confidence more than we need anything else.

And while all entrepreneurs need confidence, they also need to put the very best of themselves out there everyday, knowing that some days they may come home empty-handed. To put our own personal brand out into the world without hiding behind another company’s name leaves us equally open to praise and criticism. People will constantly ask us how it’s going, and we have to sometimes buck up and say “could be better”. We have to remain hopeful and vulnerable all at once. We have to keep knocking on doors to keep discouraging thoughts at arm’s length.

A few months ago, I put together 27 interviews from my Examiner.com column about entrepreneurship into an e-book, Hope in Progress. Each of those entrepreneurs exhibits that perfect balance between remaining vulnerable and confident at once. I learned so much from them, and am grateful that they took the time to share their stories with me. Each of them lives by Madeleine L’Engle’s edict, expressed so beautifully in her quote at the beginning of this post: to be truly alive, we have to put our deepest desires out there into the world, listen to the response, and remain grateful for the opportunity to fully express who we really are.

creativity, discovery, friendship, innovation, inspiration

Step 220: Life on Our Own Terms

Christa Avampato

“We start off scared, and we stay scared until we’re done.” ~ Ed Catmull, President and Co-founder of Pixar Animation Studios

I wish someone would just eliminate acronyms like BAU (business as usual) and SOP (standard operating procedures). At various times in my life, I tried to live by someone else’s standards. I wince with embarrassment when I think about those times. They landed me in situations that left me supremely unhappy. Those times of living by someone else’s definitions of success and happiness were like death by a thousand little cuts. I lost myself and spent a long time digging my way out of those messes.

Many of my friends are now going through intense times of self-rediscovery. They’re trying new things, exploring, re-framing, and growing. This work isn’t easy. Sometimes it’s painful and scary. They’re unsure where all of it will lead, if it leads anywhere at all. They keep reaching even when it feels like they’re reaching into the dark. I’m right there with them. I get it; we’re in this together. I’m proud of them and inspired by them. I can’t wait to see what they create next.

From the outside it might feel foolish to upset the apple cart, to take our perfectly fine lives and chuck it all for a more authentic, original dream. But I know we’re all right in taking this route. The truly crazy, risky path is to stay in place. Fear is a healthy, helpful feeling to have so long as we have enough courage to put that fear aside and keep going. I’m all for continuous re-invention. It keeps life interesting and regret at bay.

exercise, habit, health

Step 219: A Return to the Gym

Christa Avampato

Before today, I never set foot inside a New York City gym. When I lived in Florida, DC, and Virginia, I went regularly and really enjoyed it. New York gym-going is a whole different ballgame. There used to be a stereotype of New York City gym people – they wear make-up, carefully select their outfits, and try not to sweat too much. An old-school image at best, and probably a way-too-broad characterization, though that image kept me from ever joining a gym in New York City. I like to work out; I just don’t like people watching me work out.

Today, I took my 1-week complimentary pass to New York Sports Club and tried it on for size for a few reasons:

1.) I took a few runs in Riverside Park last week, despite the awful heat and humidity. I felt like a bump on a log, sequestered indoors by summer, so I put on a brave face, grabbed my ipod, and went for it. I hated every second of it. For 2 of the 4 season in New York City, I don’t like to exercise outside. And with my appetite rivaling that of an NFL linebacker, not exercising is not an option.)

2.) My company provides a really valuable discount on the monthly gym fee at NYSC. It’s not widely advertised so I recently learned about it. (Check with you HR department to see if they have gym deals – and if they don’t, ask them if they’re interested in offering that perk. It’s a fairly large discount!)

3.) I like a variety of group fitness classes. I’ve been exploring membership at yoga studios, and while the quality of classes at studios tends to be higher (though not always, even in Manhattan where there is a yoga studio on every corner), the value of so many classes being offered as a package with a gym membership can’t be beat. Some NYSCs also have pools so there may be some additional adult swimming lessons in my future, too.

4.) NYSC is everywhere I am. Work, home, neighborhoods where I spend a lot of my free time. I didn’t realize how many locations they have and my membership allows me to go to any of them at any time, no black out times. And the hours of operation at most of the locations runs from very early morning to very late evening. There really is no excuse for me to not go 3-4 times per week.

5.) The New York gym and gym-goer stereotype is wrong. No one was staring at me while I got my heart rate up on the Precor machine and it wasn’t overly packed. Okay, there was the odd girl here and there who spent as much time checking herself out in the mirror as she did on the treadmill. And there were a couple of overly muscular guys who I’m very worried about because I don’t think they can even touch their knees much less their toes. Those types are just weird and they’re everywhere. But most people were there just doing their thing: burning calories, sweating out stress, and getting their workout in for the day. When I got home I felt better for having done the same.