I've always been a writer. It's the skill I've honed the longest, starting in childhood with notebooks full of stories and poems. Writing has always come naturally. It is structured, expressive, and something I could revise until it matches my thoughts. Talking on camera never came naturally.
To work on that gap, I set myself a challenge last year: record and post a video to YouTube every single day for four months. No excuses, no overthinking, just hit record and go.
And I did it. I showed up every day. Over time, I became less nervous. I got more comfortable seeing myself on screen. I became more familiar with the process. Despite that consistency, I didn't actually become a stronger speaker. I just got better at showing up. Without feedback, structure, or a straightforward learning process, I was missing the ingredients that support real improvement.
That changed when I joined Toastmasters.
Consistency Is Not the Same as Progress
As a coach, I often talk about the importance of staying consistent. It's the first step for a lot of people. But it's not the only step. Practice doesn't always make perfect. You only grow when you understand what you're learning from that practice.
Toastmasters gives me more than just a place to practice speaking. There is a curriculum that builds skills in a logical order. There are real-life assignments, not just reps for the sake of reps. And most importantly, there is feedback. Supportive, specific, and actionable feedback that helps me see what's working and what I can improve next.
Last week, I gave my first Toastmasters speech. It's called an icebreaker, and it lasts between 4 and 6 minutes, to introduce yourself to the group. My speech, titled 'Gift and Opportunity,' tells the story of how what once felt like a major setback in my early thirties became the turning point for a complete transformation in my health and career.
The speech went well. I was proud of how I showed up (after practicing a lot the week leading up to it). I appreciated the instant evaluation I received. I walked away encouraged, with a clear sense of direction for what to work on next. That's the difference between showing up and actually making an improvement.
The Story Behind Gift and Opportunity
I don't have a video of my speech, but I wanted to share the script with you here.
My speech is called Gift and Opportunity, and it's about how an unexpected struggle became the turning point for my health and career.
I started my career in retail, managing specialty clothing stores. Long days on my feet, eight, ten, even twelve hours at a time, often in four-inch heels. Oh, to be young again!
It was demanding physically, so I never had to think twice about staying active because the job kept me moving.
So when I landed my first office job in apparel product development, It felt like the biggest gift: regular hours, no weekends, and finally a chair to sit in. I felt like I had made it.
But that gift came with a surprise. Within two years, I gained significant weight. I thought at first it was because I was getting old, but looking back, I realize I was only thirty, so that definitely wasn't it. What really was going on was that I went from moving all day in an active job to sitting all day in a sedentary one, and I didn't yet have the habits and skills to balance it out. In my twenties, an active job was enough to keep me "in shape." But when I changed jobs, I had to change my lifestyle.
I started by heavily restricting my diet and running a lot. I lost the weight, only to gain it back when those habits proved to be unsustainable. This happened over and over. I lost the weight and gained it back more times than I care to admit. The hardest part was that I was praised when the pounds came off, embarrassed when they returned. It was exhausting.
It took a long time, maybe almost a decade, but eventually something shifted. I learned how to fuel my body. How to move in ways that supported me and made me feel my best. I started lifting weights to build real strength.
I discovered that health isn't a twelve-week transformation or a before-and-after photo. It's so much more than going to the gym and eating healthy. It's about sleep, managing stress, healthy relationships, and boundaries, just as much as food and workouts.
That struggle, that decade of trial and error, became the best gift I ever received. Without it, I may have stayed thin but unhealthy. I might have grown older and weaker.
Without the struggle, I never would have been driven to improve my health, to become stronger at fifty than I ever was at thirty, become a coach, and dedicate myself to helping others on a similar path.
I help people avoid the mistakes it took me years to figure out, and find the whole-life health that lasts. Today, in my work as a workplace wellness consultant, I bring those same lessons to teams and organizations to discover their strength, energy, and habits that support their health and their work.
That weight gain, which once felt like a struggle and a burden, shaped my purpose. It was a gift, and my opportunity to grow. I know my story is a relatively mild example compared to the struggles many people face. The point isn’t the size of the challenge. Whether it’s a career setback, a health issue, or even something as small as being late to work because of traffic, every difficulty gives us a chance to practice perspective. If we can start training our brains to look for the gift and the opportunity in those moments, big or small, we create space for growth.
And that's the challenge I have for you: whatever struggle you are in right now, ask yourself what it might be teaching you, what opportunities might be hidden inside, and how you could one day use it to help others.
Questions? I’d love to help.
Lea
Lea Genders is a board-certified health coach, personal trainer, and workplace wellness consultant based in Fort Worth, TX. She offers corporate wellness programs for employee health and productivity, as well as in-person and virtual training / coaching for individuals worldwide. Her blog shares expert guidance on strength training, running, and sustainable nutrition @fortworth_trainer
Consistency alone doesn’t always create progress. I learned that firsthand when I recorded a video every day for four months and got better at showing up, but not necessarily better at speaking. Real growth came when I found a framework, feedback, and support through Toastmasters. That same lesson applies to health, work, and life: struggles, big or small, often carry the gift and opportunity to grow stronger if we’re willing to see them that way.