The Journey Begins

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton

Welcome to The Ascent!

(That’s what I’m “cleverly” calling the Fit Ascent Blog, FYI. Just roll with it, lol.)

If you’re new here, thank you so much for stopping by! I am so happy to share this journey with you and can’t wait to see where we end up. Let me start off my telling you a little bit about how Fit Ascent came to be.

So, you’re probably thinking, “Jenna, how did you decide on the FA name?”

Well, I wanted to find a name that would hold personal value to me and something that could also resonate well with others. I attended college in the mountains, studying cinema of all things, and when it came time to name my business, something struck me.

This will make a lot more sense if I give you some context.

*Cue Flashback*

My senior year, I did a capstone film project based on this quote by Alan Watts –

The meaning of life is just to be alive. It is so plain and so obvious and so simple. And yet, everybody rushes around in a great panic as if it were necessary to achieve something beyond themselves.

Woah. Deep, right?

My project was sort of like an art film/fiction/documentary all combined into one. A key theme in my film was this recurring scene where a young man was hiking through this awesome mountain. This hike was actually a very popular one at my school, and one I had done several times.

On this particular path, the closer you got to the top, there would be more of these mini scenic overlooks. Still presenting incredible views, but just a tease of what’s to come.

How does this tie together?

When I was thinking of names to call my business, I was reminded of my capstone project, how that Alan Watts quote had inspired me, and this hike. I had done this trek throughout many different stages of my college life, and each felt different from the last. I used to be impatient and bored on hikes, and eventually I grew to enjoy the process and appreciate my surroundings. It’s interesting to look back and think about where I was in life the very first time I went on this hike. My freshman year, I actually had a completely useless ankle that I refused to let heal from the worst sport’s injury I’d ever had. I refused to sit out of any activity because I was so fed up with my injury history. It was a frustrating time for all involved, and going on a somewhat challenging hike for the first time definitely did NOT help my circumstances. However, the final time I completed this hike my senior year, I was thankfully healthy, but also content just being present and able. My relationship with the scenario and MYSELF was a complete 180, but guess what? That relationship is forever evolving and blossoming.

An Ascent, by definition, is a hike to a summit or a hill (thanks for the literal and perfect definition, dictionary.com). In all areas of life we have these awesome ups and downs, challenging and straightforward paths, mini scenic overlooks and accomplishments, but there’s always something more to achieve. We are never done with the ascent. We can rest at a clearing, smile at the view, and then KEEP ON GOING.

A hop, skip, and a jump later, I transitioned to this exciting part of my journey… a fitness biz!

Although I’m taking a hiatus from the film world for the time being, I am still very, VERY thankful for the revelation I had my senior year while working on that project. I had a difficult time explaining my film to others up until the very end [something my mentor and professor was very patient with me for (love ya, Dien!)] when I had an emotional breakthrough watching the “completed” edit. I was overwhelmed with emotion, because after all that time, I realized this film was actually about ME. On the surface, it was about society’s expectations about what you should be and do, etc. etc., but underneath, it was something I had to go through, a purge, and accept this stage in my own life. Where I had already been and what I had gone through. The uncertainty. The raw, yet simple, feelings of adrenaline and elation. The desire for more. The “just because” and the ability to simply “BE”. This film was a reminder I set for myself that I wanted to make myself a priority, body & mind, and then the rest would follow. And now I look back and think, “Wow. This is so relevant to where I am at RIGHT NOW, TOO.”

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I pitched the name to some friends, who agreed, and thus, Fit Ascent was born.

Thanks again for stopping by. I can’t wait to see where this journey leads.