I’m happy to report that I’ve never had a serious encounter with the law.  The closest I’ve been to a courtroom in the past few years was when I rented My Cousin Vinny on Netflix.

Vinny and I may not know a lot about courtroom procedure, but that doesn’t mean we don’t know how to argue our case.  In fact, arguing isn’t my only skill; I’m also an excellent judge.  I can be just as impatient and sharp-tongued as Judge Judy.  I just love her sassy quips.  Two of my favorites are: “Beauty fades, but dumb is forever”; and “I’m speaking.  When my mouth moves, yours stops.”

In all seriousness, I spent several years working as a recruiter in New York City, one of the most competive job markets in the world.  I was paid a handsome salary to evalute, assess, and judge others.  I’m pretty skilled at reading people and quickly able to ascertain a person’s character.  Judging has always been one of my strengths.  I’ve had a lifetime of practice as I have always subjected my self to the harshest judgments of all.

When I showed up at Fitness Together for my first assessment, I was nervous to say the least.  The tables were turned.  Now, someone was going to ‘judge’ me on two of my greatest weaknesses:  health and fitness.  I hadn’t even met him yet, but I was terrified of my fitness “judge”.  I knew from his photo that he was young, handsome, muscular, and healthy.  In my mind, he was sure to be a harsh critic.

I prepared for the worst.  I showed up with all of my default defenses at the ready:  self-deprecating humor, my own strong criticisms, rationalizations and excuses, to name a few.

And a funny thing happened.  Much to my surprise, my trainer looked right past my weight, my size, and my atrophied muscles and saw me.  I know when I’m being judged and it was clear that the only person doing any judging that day was…well, me.

Where I felt hopelessness and despair, it seemed that my trainer saw possibility and promise.  Not in an over enthusiastic sales-pitch-driven kind of way, but in a most authentic and matter-of-fact manner:  “It’s going to be a long journey”, he explained.  “We’ll get to know one another really well.”

“How do you do it?”, I asked him later.

“Do what?”, he replied, clearly confused as to what ‘it’ could possibly be.

“How can you be so judgment-free?”

He looked so surprised I realized that perhaps it had never occurred to him that things should be any other way.  This was no court.  There was no trial. No contempt.  Nothing to defend.

At that moment, I realized that I wasn’t appearing before a judge or pleading my case to a jury.  If anything, I was sealing a deal with a partner in crime.  Someone who just might be able to help me break free from my self-created prison.

Of course, once the deal was sealed, my partner in crime went a little Judge Judy on me.  This scene from her courtroom could very easily apply to our first few weeks of training:

Judge Judy (Trainer): Why are you here?

Witness (40CarrotGirl):  I’m here for pain and suffering.

Judge Judy (Trainer), exasperated:  Yours or mine?