I’m a personal trainer, and I also work shifts at reception at our gym when I am not with clients. For the last week, I’ve seen a woman approach the entrance, stare at the building for a solid minute, and then scurry away.

I’ve seen her do this every morning for a week. Today is no exception, so I pretend to head out to take a phone call outside on my cell phone when I see her approaching. She goes through her same routine of building up the courage to go inside when I see her start to waver again.

Me: “Good morning! How are ya?”

Woman: “I’m… fine, thank you.”

Me: “Thinking about joining? We offer a lot of good programs.”

Woman: “There’s no point. I think about it, but…”

There’s an extended pause.

Me: “You okay?”

Woman: “…oh, nothing. Never mind.”

She starts to walk back the way she came, toward her car.

Me: “Oh, you’re heading in the direction of [Store]? Mind keeping me company?”

Woman: “…okay?”

Me: “I remember when I first thought about going to the gym. I was so unhappy with how I looked, and all the women at the gym were so skinny and so… Well, they seemed way ahead of me.”

Woman: “Really? But you look amazing!”

Me: “I feel amazing! And deep down, that’s what it’s all about. Your body will change only after your mind does.”

Woman: “But… I’ve never even been inside a gym before. I’m so unfit!”

Me: “So was I! But the first thing I’ll tell you — which I wish someone had told me at the beginning — is that this is a personal journey, and it’s for you to decide when and how. Other people can help you, but they shouldn’t force you, and you shouldn’t feel forced. That’s a one-way ticket straight back to where you started.”

Woman: “Well… I do want to. It’s just…”

Our walk has taken us past the nearby store, and we are now walking around a large artificial body of water. I keep us going as she explains to me her struggles with confidence, her weight, her self-image, and just generally how she feels about herself. Before I know it, we’ve come full circle back to where we started the walk. Part of her explanation is that she barely gets in more than 1,500 steps a day.

Me: “I hear everything you just said, but I also want you to just realize something. According to my step-counter, we’ve just done almost 3,000 steps, and you didn’t even notice.”

Woman: “What?! Really?”

Me: “Yeah, see?! Look! It shows we’ve just done 3,000 in the last half-hour.”

Woman: “Wow!”

Me: “Tell you what. I’m not going to tell you to go inside that gym if it doesn’t feel right yet, but I do need a walking workout buddy around this time most weekdays. Just come and walk around the pond with me and we can talk about whatever. Sound good?”

Woman: “That… sounds… good!“

I meet her the next day, and we walk around the pond again. And the next day. And almost every weekday when I am on shift and have an hour or so of break. Within a week, the woman is pushing 4,000 steps.

After two weeks, we start doing two laps around the pond, and I actually have to tell her I can’t take longer breaks than this, and if she wants to walk longer, then she can meet me before or after work.

Woman: “How about I walk with you… into work?”

And that’s how I got a scared but determined woman to step into a gym for the first time in her life and actually feel good about herself. She’s now a regular at the gym and has signed up for one of my classes, and we still get our lap in at the pond every lunchtime!

This story is part of the Best-Feel-Good-Stories Of-2023 roundup!

Read the next story!

Read the roundup!

An old man, probably in his late seventies, walks into the gym, asking about membership.

Me: “We offer a senior discount and an advice program for our senior members looking to improve their health both here and at home if you’d like.”

Customer: “How much do newborns weigh?”

Me: *Thrown a little* “Uh… six, or seven pounds, maybe?”

Customer: “Okay, let’s say eight. Start with giving me something that’s eight pounds, and I will carry it around for as long as I can, and we’ll start working up.”

Me: “I can help you with that. Can I ask what your health goal is?”

Customer: “When my daughter was born, I was working overseas on an oil tanker and I missed so much of her childhood. Now she’s pregnant, and I’m not making that same mistake twice! I’m going to carry my granddaughter around all day if I can help it! Now… where are the weights?

He was regularly carrying around a fifteen-pound weight by the time his granddaughter was born! I gave him a congratulatory message about his progress and he said, raising the weight above his head:

Customer: “Now I wish she was having twins!”

I’m a web designer. I receive a phone call from a personal trainer.

Client: “I have a website, but the guy who made it turned out to be a bit rubbish. Could you take a look at it and tell me what improvements it needs?”

I take a look and point out the many flaws. I tell him that it really needs to be redone, and I make suggestions for how to improve it.

Client: “Can’t you just add the changes to what’s already there?”

Me: “I can’t work with this. I make websites from scratch; I don’t take on other people’s code.”

Client: “I’ve already paid for a new website, so I don’t want to pay again.”

Me: “What is the budget you had in mind for the changes? Maybe we could look at getting a new site made on that budget.”

Client: “Like I said, I’ve already paid, so I don’t see why I should spend any more money at all. Can’t you just move things around a bit?”

Me: “Not for free, no.”

Client: “Why not?”

Our new manager has just started. They are Irish, blunt, and suffer no fools. A customer walks in and immediately her attitude is awful. She is sneering at everyone like we’re beneath her.

Customer: “I was looking to join the gym and use one of your personal trainers?”

Manager: “Brilliant! I can set that up for you!”

Customer: “But I want to look like this.”

The customer holds up her phone and shows us a picture of a glamorous but almost dangerously thin supermodel. This is in no way body-shaming at all, but the customer is a long way from looking like that poor skeleton on the phone.

Manager: “So, you were looking for a weight loss programme, or…?”

Customer: “Yes, but I don’t want to have to change my diet, so I thought I would come here. Also, I don’t want to sweat. I hate sweating.”

Manager: “Okay, so here’s what you do.” *Points to the exit* “You go through those doors, go find a plastic surgeon, and all the best!“

Customer: “Is that how you talk to your customers?!”

Manager: “Only the ones asking for the impossible. If you wanted to lose a healthy amount of weight, we could help you with your nutrition and some exercises — and yes, they would make you sweat. If you want to lose an unhealthy amount of weight without sweating, well, that’s only happening if it’s sucked out and cut off of you. We don’t do that here.”

Customer: “Ugh! So rude!”

She stormed off, and I suddenly knew I was going to like our new manager.

I’m a stay-at-home mom looking to get a part-time evening/weekend job to help bring in some extra income. I get a job at a gym, in the childcare area.

The original manager who hired me quits shortly after I start working there. I go from working sixteen hours a week to being scheduled for forty hours a week, which doesn’t work for me. I go to speak with the current manager.

Me: “I need my schedule fixed. Originally, I was hired to only work three days out of the week, and only evenings and Saturdays. I can’t work every day or all the hours that I’ve been scheduled for.”

Manager: “That agreement was with the previous manager. It’s no longer valid.”

Me: “I can’t work those hours, though.”

Manager: “We’re short-staffed, so I need you to be a team player.”

Me: “You’re about to be even more short-staffed.”

Manager: “Huh?”

Me: “I can’t work forty hours a week. I never agreed to it, and I don’t want a full-time job. This was just to bring in a little bit more money for a little while for my family. I will quit if I’m scheduled for more than the original agreement.”

Not surprisingly, that manager didn’t last much longer, but thankfully, the next manager was very flexible with the hours that I wanted, and they got me to stay for an extra year.