Notes On… Pace

This morning at Orange Theory, I walked in and was greeted not just by my favorite smiling receptionists, but by a banner that read: Find Your Happy Pace. And it landed deeper than I expected, almost like silent thunder.

Finding my way into class and onto the treadmill, the word pace stayed with me. I didn’t just think about it, I felt it. What came to me was this: Thoughts are the language of the brain. Movement is the voice of the body. And MAYBE pace is where those two meet. We choose an intention, lets say health, strength, joy, presence and we meet it with action: a run, a stretch, a lift, a breath. What comes from that meeting? I'm still figuring that part out. But maybe it's something like integration. After class, I had to have a moment with Coach Jesse. We chatted about his upcoming wedding, the success of a new studio, the summer club he’s doing, ya know, big things. Beautiful things. I said, “You’ve been busy,” and the moment I walked away, I regretted it.

“Busy” has become a stand-in for being alive, as if fullness means constantly running out of time. But Jesse isn’t “busy”. He’s aligned. He’s living out something he once only imagined. One of my favorite poets, Marie Howe, once wrote, Busyness is an affliction. I think she’s right. But alignment isn’t affliction; it’s activation. Yes, it can feel like a lot. Joy often does. It's one of the most vulnerable emotions we allow ourselves to feel. But that doesn’t make it wrong or too much. It just means we might need intentional rest. Not retreat. Not collapse. The kind of rest that honors how far we’ve come.

So this morning, under the orange glow, I was reminded of something Jesse often echoes; Don’t find your happy pace. Find your true pace, the one your life is asking for right now. Then move with it. Not to escape yourself, but to meet yourself.