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There was a lot of fear growing up for Sara May Garcia Perez – who was born and raised in the infamous town of Medellin, Columbia – when it was under the control of Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar.

During her teenage years, Perez witnessed her friends falling prey to the promise of a wealthy and powerful life, as they started to get involved with Escobar and his illegal dealings.

“It was a very dangerous time on the streets and anyone could get killed,” the 39-year-old fitness instructor at TripleFit recalled, “Many of my friends worked for the traqueto (Colombian drug dealing industry associate) or became the girlfriends of these drug dealers and some of them were murdered.”

Not attracted to luxury or riches, Perez made sure she stayed safe by spending most of her time in the gym. “As a kid, my mother kept me off the streets by putting me in a swim squad from the age of five and I competed in swimming. Then I started playing tennis and basketball, as well as danced ballet professionally for a few years before I discovered the gym when I attended university.

“While my friends went partying with all the bad guys in pursuit of riches, my dream was to become a fitness instructor. I didn’t want expensive things; all I wanted was a simple car to get to the gym on time!” she said.

Perez hit the gym for the first time at university to build muscle and strength for her ballet and that was when she became interested in teaching fitness as a profession. Her mother would not hear of it, but eventually Perez switched her major midway through university from business management to sports science instead.

On top of her degree course, she also took up several fitness certifications and courses such as spinning, aerobics and kettlebell. As her parents refused to support her passion in fitness, Perez had to pay her own way through university, thus she was teaching at a gym between lessons.

“I was 19 back then and I was only sleeping four hours a day. I also got married that year, so there was a lot going on for me. Thankfully, I earned a scholarship in my later years at university so I could ease off on the teaching,” she shared.

Upon graduation, Perez chose to pursue a Master degree in fitness management, while simultaneously becoming a lecturer at the same university. She was also offered the position of manager at another gym.

“It was a busy life I had, but I was happy… until I had to take a year off from school because my marriage fell apart after eight years and I went through a divorce,” she revealed.

It was a difficult time for Perez but she finally went back to complete her Master degree and subsequently moved to Bogata to live with her brother. “My ex-husband and I went to the same gym, we had the same friends and I really couldn’t be in the same place as him anymore; especially not after he cheated. Hence I made the decision to leave my life behind for a fresh beginning. It wasn’t easy to start from zero and build my life up again, but I had to do it.”

With her resume in hand, Perez went from gym to gym for months before she found a job at Les Mills Latin America. After seven years of teaching various fitness classes there, she took up the opportunity to move to Singapore for work and has been here for three years now.

Currently, Perez teaches 10 types of classes at TripleFit, including core, HIIT and Latin dance, and is also a personal trainer. “Fitness is truly my life; it helps to enhance character and create belief in yourself. It is what kept me away from danger as a teenager and the only constant through all the changes in my tumultuous life. I really cannot think of any other way I want to lead my life,” she added.

A column by Olympian and national rower Aisyah Gala

Lately, I had to make a few very important decisions in my life. I feel that the older we get, the harder it is to make a decision. Every decision seems to be life-changing. It is either that, or we have lost the ability to pick a side and move on with our lives.

I don’t necessarily make the right decisions or the best ones. I used to be the most fickle-minded person. I’d make a decision and then change it halfway. After realising that this might make others unhappy – and it often brings me to nowhere – I worked on becoming that person who makes a decision and bloody stick to it.

But making this change isn’t as easy as I thought it was. So, I found it absolutely hard to make up my mind and then I found myself searching on Google on “How to make a hard decision?”

One thing I’ve realised from this decision-making conundrum that I had to experience recently is that making a decision is way better than sitting over one and not making any choices. At least when you make a decision, you’re moving.

By spending hours or even days pondering over which decision to make, nothing is being done and you remain in the same spot. (Even not making a decision is a decision in itself. As long as you have committed that you won’t be making a decision and is able to live with that for the rest of your life, then go ahead.

Time waits for no man (or woman), guys. We have got to keep moving. We have to decide and commit. I’ve also learnt that I don’t have to be alone in this. People are always willing to help. It is a matter of whether we are brave enough to reach out or not. However, the problem that might arise from this is having too many people telling you a thousand different things.

At the end of the day, I’d say: go with what you feel is right. Go with what YOU want and not what you think others might want you to choose. One of the best advice I’ve received after months of pondering is from this article: “Choose growth each time”. And once you’ve made a decision, stick to it and take full responsibility for it.

I did spend at least two months pondering over this particular dilemma. Two whole months of doing nothing but thinking. I know thinking is highly encouraged before you blindly jump into something new, but I could have done so much in those two months than just spend all that time thinking about which path to take!

But let me tell you this; the moment I made the decision, I felt so relieved! It felt like a huge rock was lifted off my shoulders. It made me wonder why it took me so long to come to a conclusion.

Like I mentioned before, life is actually pretty simple. We just tend to make things a bit more complicated, very often by thinking too much. Overthinking, is yet another story. Now that it has been almost six months or so since I made that decision and I am glad I did it.

Training in Philadelphia after the Olympic Games was the tough decision that I had to make because I was considering coming back to Sydney where everything was familiar or exploring a new training environment. I was torn between choosing comfort or doing something crazy like starting a new life in a city I didn’t know anyone at all. I am glad I chose the latter because only by stepping out of my comfort zone did life happen.

Choose growth each time. At the end of the day, whatever decision we make, things will eventually be okay, somehow. That is the beauty of how life works. x