A YMCA Class

In my early 20's, my friend and I decided it was time to get serious about fitness. However, we had no clue what we wanted to do about getting fit. I cannot remember how many different things we tried, but there is one that I will never forget. We did not want to join a gym and get stuck with a long-term commitment, or a contract that could not be broken. We wanted to be sure we liked something before diving completely in. At the time, gyms in our area were not flexible. Sure, you could get a week trial for a low price, but we didn't even know if the typical gym really piqued our interest. We decided taking some group classes one class at a time at our local YMCA would be our best option.

The YMCA provided us a menu of classes to try for a minimal fee. We could sign up for one class for a low price that we would pay each class, or we could pre-pay for 8 lessons at a very reasonable price with no further commitment. There were many classes that looked interesting to me but I was super shy and could not imagine attending a group class without someone I felt comfortable around. My friend, on the other hand, only found interest in one of the classes on the menu. So we signed up for 8 classes of Tai Chi based on the description of a class offering defense training, health benefits, and meditation. I thought this was great because we would be working on our fitness, working on calming our minds, and learning how to protect ourselves.

It was the day of our first lesson and we were excited but nervous. We arrived to class fairly early and there were only a few classmates socializing when we arrived. We were excited because we could take our pick of spots available and we could stay together. Naturally, we decided the back row closest to the exit was our best bet! We were happy to try something new but let's be real here, we also wanted to make sure we could sneak out of the class quietly if this was not a good fit for us. Remember we were in our early 20's and about as fickle as one can be.

It was getting closer to start time and the room was filling up. Everyone seemed nice but also surprised to see the new additions to class. I thought to myself, "Oh, class hasn't even begun and already I do not fit in". I wanted to enjoy this class but I hated feeling like a fish out of water. My friend looked just as bewildered as I felt but didn't dare say anything. I assumed it was because basically she picked this class for us, and she did not want to let on that her pick was not quite what she expected. However, I would learn later exactly the thoughts going on in her mind while she stood there like a deer in headlights waiting for the car to crash into us both. I was so nervous to be trying something new that I did not even notice that we were very young compared to the other people in class. I'm not talking about 5 to 10 years younger. We were a good 50 years younger. Once I realized that fact, it made complete sense why our classmates looked so surprised to see us joining in their class.

Wait! What? Had we seriously signed up for senior citizen Tai Chi? This couldn't be. We must have walked into the wrong class. Surely the receptionist would have said something while we were registering for this class? Without speaking or interrupting the class, I tried desperately to send a signal to my friend that we should tiptoe backwards and quietly exit the class. My friend was completely ignoring my wide-eyed glances in her direction because she was so dead-set on not admitting that her class pick was not for us. So there I stood, trying to copy the moves of the old man in front of me as he sat in a chair pretending to hug a tree. The instructor was calmly calling out names of stances and moves such as cloud hands, golden cock stands, grasp the bird tail, etc... I was in complete disbelief and much to my embarrassment, some of these much older classmates had better balance than I did. I stood there for the next oh so long 50 minutes or so trying to figure out what happened. We signed up for self-defense when we signed up for this class. Right? When would that be taught? Surely pretending to hug a tree, would not help me if God forbid, I was suddenly attacked while getting into my car?

Finally we made it through class and it was time to cool down. I couldn't take it any longer. I did not want to be still standing around there when class was finished waiting for someone to ask me how I liked senior citizen Tai Chi. I no longer even cared that my friend was still participating in the cool down. I crept as quietly as I could and backed right out of the door. As soon as the door shut, I bolted down the hall. I left my friend to fend for herself and I made my way to the car. While I waited for her, I pulled up the menu of classes to figure out what went wrong. I looked down for the class listing to Tai Chi and realized there were two listings. I may or may not have signed up for the right course but I know for sure, I had just attended Tai Chi for the Golden Years! My friend made her way to our car after a few minutes. She had completed the class and finally fessed up that she too felt very uncomfortable in the class. Neither of us had enough nerve to approach the receptionist about the class error. Ironically we picked the YMCA class because it meant we would not get stuck paying for a membership we did not like, but in the end we still ended up paying for 8 classes we never attended.

There have been several times in life, when I felt that I did not fit in but none of those times were quite as obvious as the time I accidentally took a Tai Chi class certainly meant for our thriving senior citizen community. That was 20 years ago, and I still have 20 + years before I will fit in with the Tai Chi for the Golden Years class. There is a lesson to be learned here however, the obvious one is to always read the fine print and small details. The not so obvious one is we don't have to fit in in order to be humbled and to appreciate a new experience. I may not have wanted to complete that class but I survived it. The 20 year old me didn't enjoy the experience but now the almost 40 year old me can look back and laugh about the class I just didn't fit into.