The Mayor who teaches at a gym (embrace the โANDโ)
80s Dance Party May 2026. Photo credit: Mara Prendergast.
Last Friday, the mayor of the city where I live got me moving in an 80s dance class. And it left me thinking about how we shrink our world.
It started as a fun outing: I went to a party with moms from my youngest son's school. One of them had won an auction to raise funds for Mitchell Elementary School and invited us to a dance and fitness session at Unite studio. We dressed in neon colors and relived choreography from that era. The result: laughter, sweat, and stronger bonds among us.
But for me, the real insight of the night came from who was leading the class.
The instructor wasn't a special guest appearance: it was Laura Weinberg, the Mayor of Golden, Colorado. Yes, the city's top political authority, teaching a class with boundless energy, being completely herself, without contradictions and without apologies. Laura is a regular instructor there; it wasn't a one-time thing. It's part of who she is.
As mayor, Laura often talks about "connecting with residents" and "bringing creative solutions to the community." That night I saw it in action. She connects as a person, not from the formality of her position, and this time, embodying the gym's motto: "We believe in the power of community and the joy of movement."
๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐ง๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ฝ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฟ๐ถ๐ป๐ธ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ข๐๐ฟ ๐ช๐ผ๐ฟ๐น๐ฑ
In the middle of the music, I couldn't help but think about what Harvard professor Arthur Brooks calls "work-life integration." Not balance. Integration. And I relate it directly to stopping ourselves from shrinking, or hiding, to please others' expectations.
We've bought into the idea that work and life are separate compartments, or we allow our professional side to devour all the others. We become so "solemn" that we forget we can be 100% responsible at work without taking life so rigidly.
Your profession, your career, your businessโthey are an expression of your identity; not the entirety of who you are.
How often does that inner voice censor us: "that doesn't look right," "if you're a mayor you can't be a gym instructor," "if you hold a leadership position you can't show vulnerability," "if you want to prove commitment you have to work overtime"... We shrink our worlds and stop expressing ourselves freely out of fear of what others might think.
๐๐บ๐ฏ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ฒ โ๐๐ก๐โ
My purpose, my WHY (as Simon Sinek calls it), is to expand people's vision of what's possible, so they embrace the "AND" and create their own path.
I've discoveredโboth in my own life and while accompanying my coaching clientsโthat fulfillment appears when we choose our multiple facets.
You can be a political leader AND a fitness instructor AND a great mom AND playful ANDโฆ
You can be a high-level professional AND someone who has fun wearing neon colors AND value leisure ANDโฆ
You can have a structured mind AND a soul that celebrates play and lightness ANDโฆ
You don't have to shrink yourself to fit into a rigid definition that someone else invented and that, almost without thinking, the majority started to follow.
Integration is allowing yourself to enjoy all your facets and flow from one to another without asking for permission or apologizing. When we reclaim our power to be a whole human being, we not only enrich our own lives, but we strengthen and inspire those around usโand we evolve as a society.
โ What part of yourself have you set aside because it "doesn't look serious" or "doesn't fit" with your current professional role?
