I am a recent college grad, which still sounds foreign to me. However, the reality did not sink in until the Spring 2017 semester began, and I was no longer attending. Given this newfound free time, I have been reflecting about what I miss most of my college experience. I will tell you, first, what I do not miss. I don't miss the 28 minute commute to campus (32-35 minutes with traffic). I do not miss walking to classes. Though it was the perfect way to relax before, and decompose after a lecture, I do not miss the raining, snowy, chilly, inconvenient walks from class to class and back to my car. I don't miss stressful schoolwork, deadlines, midterms and finals. I don't miss online posts.
I do miss my friends. I miss having something to do at all times: I miss my full schedule. What I miss most, though, was the ability to escape all of the stresses of college in my own way. What I miss most about college was my sanctuary: the gym.
Please don't mistake me, as I have lived an active lifestyle for all of my adult life. I am a fitness instructor and find comfort in exercise. However, aside from the barre classes (teaching or taking), spin, outdoor runs, or at-home workouts that I do to keep myself sane, I loved the freedom of escaping to my school gym.
"Why the school gym?", you ask. Because the satisfaction was instant as it was on campus. The gym became so much more than a place to exercise. If a day wasn't going my way, I could walk directly to the gym from class: do not pass go, collect $200, or cry about the horrible test grade, or fight with that boy, or tweet about your rough Saturday night. I could spend time there as a commuter, and therefore the gym, not the campus itself, was my real home at school. The gym offered everything I needed from free weights, to cardio machines, and an open space for ab workouts or a dance break, or whatever that day called for.
The gym helped me figure out what I needed and when I needed it. Sometimes it was my headphones and a long treadmill run. Sometimes it was the sounds of the gym, a large water, and a lift in the studio mirror. Sometimes it was a friend, a competition on the elliptical, and then a heart to heart on the stair master. Sometimes it was the bathroom and a breakdown. Sometimes it was a break. Sometimes it was to push a little bit harder. Sometimes it was a long shower. Whatever I needed to learn or do that day, I was always able to figure it out at the gym.
The Salem State school gym helped me find some of my best friends. It was a place where I managed the little free time that I allowed myself while earning my undergrad. Whether alone or with friends, the gym was a place to find peace and clear my head. It helped me find a love of exercising even on my worst days. It was a place to stay when I had nowhere else as a commuter. It helped me find a passion for exercise and lead me to my post-grad job as a fitness instructor.
Though I learned much from classes, sports, friends, and my many college experiences, I was prepared to say goodbye to them at the end of my career, taking the lessons and the friendships with me. However, I was not prepared to say goodbye to my gym, my sanctuary, my home. In the case of my school gym, I did not realize how important it was to me until it was gone.
