Janelle Brown: Smarter Than Your Average Brown (Maybe)

[Pachengala 4.7k]

1 hour ago, DakotaJustice said:

question: if it's a floor workout, wouldn't the class be using mats anyway? 

This. Plus our instructors always encourage us to get a second mat if we’ll be on our knees. I mean, I’m glad that makes Janelle feel empowered because that’s never a bad thing, but this isn’t revolutionary. 

Edited 16 hours ago by Pachengala

[deirdra 33.3k]

1 hour ago, DakotaJustice said:

question: if it's a floor workout, wouldn't the class be using mats anyway? 

The gym had mats available & probably assumed the clients had enough sense to use them.  Methinks Janelle has never done a floor workout there.

[NoWhammies 4.5k]

10 hours ago, Pachengala said:

This. Plus our instructors always encourage us to get a second mat if we’ll be on our knees. I mean, I’m glad that makes Janelle feel empowered because that’s never a bad thing, but this isn’t revolutionary. 

I suspect that for Janelle, it feels revolutionary. My mind goes back to when she and Meri went to a shop because they were working on their relationship, and she had trouble even deciding to buy a wreath that she really liked. I believe she explained her inner dialogue at the time, which was something along the lines of, "Could I be somebody who has a wreath on my door? I really like that wreath, but am I a wreath on the door kind of person? I really want it, but how could I become somebody who as a wreath on my door? I sure do like that wreath, but really Meri, Christine, and Robyn are wreath people, not me." As I recall, she bought the wreath, and to her, it felt revolutionary because it was outside of her very narrow self definition. So, I can extrapolate from that experience that when she does something that is outside of that narrow definition, to her it feels revolutionary, bold, and empowering. 

[laurakaye 47.5k]

Did she think that by getting up to get a mat, the entire class would come to a screeching halt to watch her?  Now I get where she's coming from - when I first started taking yoga and found myself struggling, I did think that everyone else knew exactly what to do and were all looking at me thinking "what a noob."  Not only was that not true in the least, but the more classes I took, the more comfortable I got moving my bolsters and blocks in whatever positions I needed to be comfortable.  Janelle - a supposed gym-rat for years, if we are to believe anything she says - should be well past the awkward stage of wandering into a class and not knowing exactly what's expected of her.  If she is that paranoid, it seems like she would be much better served by finding workouts online or YouTube and doing them at home.  She strikes me as someone so completely uncomfortable in her own skin, it's a wonder she goes out into the world at all.  I'm not trying to snark too hard here, but it's like she doesn't even know how to process her own identity.

Also, two bowls of green beans for lunch?  I don't buy it.  Washed down with a milkshake, maybe.

[NoWhammies 4.5k]

Janelle has demonstrated extreme self-consciousness over the years. In fact, I think with Janelle it is the most consistent thing she has talked about - "I don't like to draw attention to myself." So for her, stepping outside of that comfort zone of being invisible (because in her mind, invisible is safe) feels as wild and crazy to her as base jumping off the Space Needle would feel to many of us (well, to me).