“The fitness industry is fixated on the before and after, getting somewhere you’re not. But the real magic is in the middle, when you start to feel the flow of energy and the growth in confidence, without some expectation for what you’re supposed to look like.” This is Kirsty Godso, celebrity trainer, powerhouse entrepreneur, Nike Global Trainer, and Magna athlete. “Ever since I was a kid I had so much energy, and I just loved moving my body. Growing up on a farm with so much space and time, it was my entertainment, my mental escape.” She was tenacious too, getting a double degree in finance and marketing, then a job in branding, though she was never far from the gym. “This was before fitness was cool—the language and imagery around it was so cringy. I knew I had to bring something new. To make something intentional. I had a full time job but I was also working at the gym and filming these fitness DVDs, inspired by the things I visualized when I was a kid. That’s how Nike found me.” It happened quickly—a couple big breaks and she was traveling the world, teaching 10,000-person events. Then she landed in New York, took on more big projects, kept teaching, and training, and developing content. But one day she hit a wall. “The day after I turned thirty I got shingles. Then my thyroid burned out, then I had hormonal failure. So yeah, it became shockingly obvious how much I was overworking myself. I think it’s a common theme for younger people now: we want to go to the extreme in every capacity. But for the first time in my life I had to stop all the intensity. I was in so much pain.” She looks back on it with gratitude—a time that went on to fuel a new direction of health and boundaries and community. “The biggest job of being a trainer is to be an amazing listener, to be empathetic and patient. If you’re at the end of your fuse, you just can’t be that person. I’m still very driven—I get to work with all these amazing women and run my own business, but I’ll never lose sight of what I learned. You have to take a leap of faith, you have to do the work to back it up, but you also have to slow down and take care of yourself.” #playthelonggame