I’ve been following a lot of fitness pros and up-and-coming pros through magazines and social media for years.

Over those years, I have learned a lot from their stories and tips that they have shared. I have found inspiration to dig deep within myself and push myself beyond the limits I thought I had. Meeting these people would be nothing short of amazing for me.

Around here, my community is a fairly mobile and fit community. Or at least the majority of it that I am involved it. A 5-kilometer road race almost every weekend, marathons throughout the year… And there are a few gyms in the area. Nothing great, but they work. And the people that have memberships to them are a pretty great bunch too.

Back in June, a local woman set the world and national records in the strict curl for her body weight class. She then set the national record for free curl in the same class. After setting her records, she is now moving on to figure competitions. To have someone in my community accomplish a feat like this was something that truly excited me.

I got to meet her on Thursday, and to say I left that interview with a different outlook on fitness would be an understatement.

I felt renewed in my own fitness. I guess I could say I got a second wind of sorts. I hit the gym that night with a vigor I didn’t know that I had. Tunnel vision almost.

Then, I got a private Facebook message from her. She gave me encouraging words about my own fitness journey, and urged me to strongly consider competing myself. The fact that someone of her stature, her fitness level, saw such potential in me, made me feel simply amazing.

As I sit and take stock in the past 11 years of my fitness road, and the fact that I once or twice flirted with the idea of competition, I’m finding myself moving back into that direction once again. But this time, I feel more confident that I have the drive and the determination to do well and succeed.

Sometimes all it takes is one person to show you something in yourself that you may not see.