Shaylin | Lynfield
“So my name’s Shaylin, and I live in Lynfield. A couple of weeks ago there was an incident where I was pulling up at the gym, and I was sitting in the car for a while, just sort of regathering my thoughts and sorting out work-outs, and there was a dude screaming at his girlfriend in the car.
This was in K-Rd, so it was quite hectic and quite abrasive, and he was just saying things along the lines of; just take the bus, like get the hell out of the car, you know? This was quite late at night. It was about 10-11 o’clock at night, and him having his friends around him, I sort of had to step in and be like; hey buddy, just relax. And he sort of came onto me like; what are you going to do about it? And I was like, listen – it’s a female, there’s no reason for you to use that amount of force or this sort of language, if you don’t like it, just walk away from the situation. So I guess, that for me, was sort of courageous, in the sense that anything could have happened. They could have had weapons on them, and things could have really turned sour, but fortunately, it just worked out for everyone involved.
So absolutely, everybody needs that sort of assistance from time to time. We all find ourselves, and you might not always be in the right, and sometimes you do deserve somewhat of a growling, but for the most part, everybody deserves to be encouraged and helped in those sorts of situations. But you also need to be vigilant, you can’t just react on emotions sometimes, even as an observer, because sometimes, as I said, it could be harmful to you. So, sort of just evaluate the situation help the people around you, for the most part.
I originally am South African-born. I moved over when I was about 16. I’m now 25. So I lived the majority of my life in South Africa, came to New Zealand, with a completely different culture to what I’m accustomed to. I think just the peaceful and humble environment has changed me as an individual because you can imagine coming from a Third World country, where it’s just stricken with poverty, you just become such an angry individual, but ever since coming to New Zealand, everyone is just so welcoming.
So with F45, it’s just getting into the door. You find a lot of the clients that come in, they know it’s hard work but as soon as they walk in the door it’s all systems go, and the thing that makes it the most rewarding is people pushing past that mental barrier in life. There’s a couple of times in life where we’re just so complacent, and we sort of have this limitation or thresholds for ourselves, but these sorts of environments just encourage people to push past their norm. I definitely think it changes, not only your physical state but your mental state as well.
For the most part it, it’s not a secret that New Zealand has one of the highest suicide rates, and it does come down to first and foremost, your mental state, and just who you are as an individual. I mean, a lot of people are just so unconfident within themselves, and that leads to that sort of mental state, where they feel like no-ones there. So exercise is a very vital part, for one, the endorphins, but also who you are as an individual and breaking barriers. When you achieve things like F45 early on in the morning, it just makes every other battle throughout the day so much easier. When you push yourself through that threshold, then anything that comes your way – like whenever you feel just too lazy to do – you’re just sort of ready for it. You’re just like, boom, well I’ve already accomplished something, let’s accomplish the next thing.”