It can be absolutely heart-wrenching to witness the life that you have painstakingly built with your own two hands, through endless struggle and sweat, crumble into nothingness right before your very eyes. The pain of seeing everything you have worked so hard for slip away like sand through your fingers can be almost too much to bear.

It takes a lot of courage and endurance to get back up and build it again. However, this persistent and relentless nature takes one far in life. Shelby Robins, a fitness expert, online trainer, and author, has a story that will make you believe that anything is possible with the right mindset!

Hailing from Washington State, in a family of four, with a single mom, Shelby grew up humbly and understood the importance of creating a space for herself in this world. Even as a child, she never wanted a 9-5 job; instead, she always dreamt of owning her own business.

During her senior year of high school, Shelby took her NASM test for certified personal training and started working at the local gym. Her clientele multiplied, and she switched to training privately. Nothing brought her greater satisfaction and inner peace than training individuals and empowering them with newfound confidence. Knowing that she was able to positively impact someone's life and contribute to their personal growth gave her a deep sense of fulfillment that was hard to match.

However, with one-on-one sessions, she realized she could only train so many people simultaneously, so she took the next step towards online training. She also employed social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok to gain more traction. From online training to her social presence, all were blooming, and just before reaching the zenith, the pandemic hit.

As soon as everything came to a halt due to the lockdowns, darkness engulfed Shelby from all sides. She felt confined and trapped, face to face with her old unresolved trauma of her father’s sudden death in her senior year at high school. She couldn’t find the courage to continue and watched her dreams and relentless hard work crumble to dust before her; she says, “To watch everything I built up, fall apart due to my actions was a really hard pill to swallow.” 

However, as a self-made person, Shelby knew it was only her for herself; she says, “Life does not care what you are going through. It keeps going.” She analyzed the situation and prepped herself to get out of this hole. She started seeing the light at the end of the tunnel by addressing her traumas and working on her mental health; she says, “I realized something needed to change, and so I started focusing on my mental health, addressing the pain of the past and figuring out who Shelby really was/wanted to be.”

Along with improving herself mentally, Shelby honed in on getting herself physically active again. Through small steps and fighting harder than before, she was back in the game stronger and fitter, losing herself down to 100lbs; she built herself up again to 130lbs. This transformation of rebuilding herself was a gigantic milestone for Shelby, which is inspirational for many.

Shelby was able to regain all that she lost as she remained true to her habits of self-discipline and persistence. Today, she successfully stands as a fitness trainer who has branched out from the traditional mindset of solely lifting weights or keeping a check on the diet attached to physical fitness. Instead, she focuses on both mental and physical well-being for optimal results. In doing so, she has introduced a whole new area within the fitness world known as Meditative Athletics.

As Shelby continues to grow further, she hopes to change the perspective regarding fitness as a practice to attain specific aesthetics; instead, she wants to propagate that being healthy can mean differently to everyone. To start your journey with a world-class trainer, visit her website and follow her on Instagram and TikTok.