Today, five months into lockdown, I logged into my first session of the day.

Usually, my client is there before me, warming up. We are well into a new flexibility program, both of us committed, both of us seeing excellent results, and both of us motivated.

We've already gotten past the limitations of Zoom training. We took every obstacle and turned it into an asset, including me gifting my client a pair of speakers for her Chromebook because she couldn't hear me. As I told her, now my voice can fill the room, of which we both laughed pretty hard.

Today, when I logged in, I found my client sitting on a small stool near her computer. I asked her as I do before every session about how warmed up she felt on a scale of one to ten. Today was no different; she was a seven, she's always a seven, but she stayed seated on her stool. Usually, she would head towards her mat, but today she asked me how I was.

I am always fine, and if I'm not, as soon as I start a session, I will be within 5 minutes. My work gives me tons of energy. I love helping clients, and it is what makes me happy in life. Even if I'm having a tough time, as soon as I start training someone and getting them moving, all my problems fade away, at least for that hour.

I asked my client how she was, and she expressed that she wasn't doing well. She mentioned that she had reached out to her friends to socialize on Zoom, and they weren't interested in learning the technology. She said she was feeling lonely and isolated, locked up in her home for several months.

I got the point immediately, so I canned the session, and we talked for an hour. We shared our ideas about what's going on in the world, in our worlds, and with the people in it. We ranted and laughed about politics and shared the projects we are working on.

The hour went by so fast it was incredible. When our time was up, my client mentioned how much better she felt. I offered her the opportunity to work out later that day, so we met an hour later.

I woke up to a different perspective on what it is I actually do. I usually know where I'm needed, but today was different; my client needed a friend and a conversation.

Human connection and sharing are just as crucial to health as exercise.

Pandemic or not, I need to be just as much of an ear as a mouth for my clients because sometimes they just need to talk. For that day and for that session, talking was necessary for the soul instead of training for the body.