I am finally home after 12 days of non-stop travel from Boston to Australia to Boston to NYC and finally back to Boston, teaching my workshops I Am Not Afraid To Lift and Keep It Simple, and presenting at the Mark Fisher Fitness Motivate and Movement Lab.

As a true introvert at heart, in the weeks leading up to this whirlwind tour of international and national travel, I was nervous for how I was going to defy jet lag, handle being out of my exercise and sleeping routine, stay on track of my nutrition, and be “on” for so long teaching and socializing.

Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE to travel and I used to do quite a bit of international travel in my teens, twenties, and early thirties, BUT I like to have the proper amount of recovery time in between trips, especially for trips like Australia.

Fortunately I survived and in fact I better than survived, I beat jet lag at its game somehow.

Before I left for Australia, the hosts who I stayed with in Australia sent me an acupuncture chart to use while I traveled to help with jet lag. You stimulate the acupuncture points with a closed pen every two hours while you are awake. I either tricked my brain mentally or it actually works because I adjusted fine in Australia and after I came back to Boston and took off for New York City.

In the car ride to New York City on Friday Pete Depuis, Vice-President & Co-Founder of Cressey Sports Performance asked me, “Why do you like to travel and teach workshops?” Because,

1. Crazy travel schedules like the one I was in the middle of can add a lot of stress to one’s workload; and
2. Because even if you teach a workshop locally or at your own facility it means that you don’t get a weekend off to rest and decompress. Instead you work through the weekend and then come back to work again at your facility on Monday.

I told him that teaching workshops is my most favorite part of my job. I started I Am Not Afraid To Lift based upon the success of my blog and my desire to want to bring what I wrote about on my blog to life. Through that I discovered that teaching workshops, and presenting at other workshop events, is a way for me to connect with my readers in person and to not only have an impact on them through the words they read on my blog site, but also to have an impact on them in person by teaching them in person and/or simply having a face to face conversation outside of the internet.

There is nothing more rewarding than seeing how you help someone through the words you share or what you teach by working with them live and in person.

This feedback I received from a participant from I Am Not Afraid To Lift Australia is a perfect example,

“As a group fitness instructor, I have attended numerous workshops. However, non have inspired me as much as ‘I’m not Afraid to Lift’ has. Not only was Artemis physically exceptional, her ability to coach and motivate was outstanding. I have a renewed my enthusiasm for strength training and cant stop talking about how amazing my experience was. I achieved a personal record for my pull up and the confidence it has given me, has transferred into other areas of my life. Thanks Artemis.” ~Lucy M., Australia

At the end of the day, no matter the travel, no matter the jet lag, my mind and my heart are full, and even if I help just one person I know that I have done my job and done it well and I feel fulfilled.

This is the reason why I travel and teach workshops and do what I do.

Learn more and register for I Am Not Afraid To Lift below…

Learn more about the workshop HERE.

Register for the workshop HERE under the “Events” tab.