Heidi Badajian left an unhealthy marriage and quit dancing in June 2011 to become a certified personal trainer. She built a business while raising children, learning to rebuild her self-worth and find resilience after a major life change.
I'm here with Heidi Badajian, and she's going to share her workshop story.
I was in a really bad marriage from the age probably 22 till now, probably till a year ago. I'm still going through my divorce. I started dancing, and I danced on and off for about 5 to 6 years, and I was never happy, never wanted to do it. I just felt like that was my only source of being able to take care of my family, being able to have some sort of freedom and be in my relationship. When I started training with Ned, decided to do my first show, that's kind of when I realized I want more. I want to be able to help people. I'm not happy with what I'm doing. And I decided to get my personal training certification, walk away from that bad relationship, and decided I wanted to do what I'm passionate about. And I stepped away from it, and I just quit, just walked out cold turkey, and I've never looked back since. I knew I was disappointing my family. I knew I was disappointing myself. I knew I was disappointing God. I was never, like, never fulfilled, never felt like I was going to do anything with my life. So when I realized I had the support from my parents to just walk away, and I told them, and that was probably the happiest moment and the most proud that they were of me to just Walk away, and even though I didn't really have a backup plan or anything to fall back on, I just did it, and I knew that it would be okay. I knew that it would work out because I felt that sense of relief and just felt like a big weight was off my shoulders when I walked away.
So how long ago did you take your one shot?
Oh, let's see. I quit dancing in June of 2011. I had one client One client for a good 6 months. Didn't have anybody else, and I went and took my certification, got certified to be a trainer, and I just started— business just started coming. I'm still not where I want to be, but I couldn't be happier as far as that life is behind me. That relationship is behind me now.
So that was 2 years ago?
Yeah.
So you put it all on the line, took your one-shot story, and it didn't all come together instantly?
No, it's still a work in progress.
Do you think that is why people sometimes give up on their dreams?
Oh, for sure. There's— I mean, I've gone to Wells Fargo and worked. I've done the 8-to-5 thing while still trying to do this. Then it's like I started to get busier here, so I quit working at Wells Fargo. Now it's kind of slowed down. I'm still constantly working, but, you know, I'm able to have that flexibility with my children. I'm able to still help people. And I'm so happy. I mean, I'm not where I want to be yet, but I know that I'm going to get there.
You do figure out what you want to do or what that one shot is, you have to constantly be aiming for a higher goal.
Yeah.
I mean, it's not like, oh, I did this, I got certified, so now I'm done, that's it. It's no, I gotta keep going. I mean, I'm still trying to recover from this bad relationship, trying to figure out what the next step is here and everything too. How easy is it to go from one relationship to another relationship to another and to keep— I mean, it'd be so easy for me to just say, I'm gonna go back and dance one night just to make that extra money. I'm gonna go back and, you know, go back to my ex-husband because that would be the easy thing to do because we have children together. But I just know that that's not the answer, and I'd rather work and keep going forward than to look back.
Keep going forward and not looking back. How— is that a hard thing to do, not look back?
It is, because this person's going to be a part of my life forever. Every time I look at my children, that's— I mean, that's what I see. And I feel like in ways that I let them down by not making that relationship work, by leaving that job, by— that was such a big part of my life.
Mm-hmm.
So you almost feel like— sometimes I feel like I'm not worth more. That was my life. That's who I am. And I know that's not who I am, so that's why I do have to keep Moving forward.
Moving forward. Sometimes you don't know what that means, but it's just a direction you've got to go, isn't it?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
