Hi! My name is Blair Seigle. Something many people do not know about me is that I was a competitive gymnast when I was younger.

While I was clearly never destined for fame, my coaches always treated us as so. Growing up I had two coaches, a Russian husband and wife duo who used to coach the Russian team at the Olympics. While my small, under-funded gym was at significantly lower stakes, we were trained in a way that one would expect from an olympic training camp, even though my skill level was never really much more exciting than a couple of flips.

My naive younger self saw nothing wrong with the countless burpees, mile-runs, and painful stretching that I encountered, thinking that this would only make me better. Still, I loved competing, and continued gymnastics until I got too injured to make all of the hours in the gym worth my time. After quitting in 8th grade, I realized that being expected to be perfect took a larger toll on my self esteem than I realized as a kid.

My perfectionism, whether in the gymnastics world or everyday life, has made me who I am today. While I can confidently say that I am a motivated and driven person and take pride in what I set out to accomplish, the pressure I received to be perfect as a child has made me very wary of how others perceive me.

While I am no longer a gymnast, I am forever grateful to have been a part of such a rewarding environment. Although it had its flaws, I always loved being a gymnast as a child and spending countless hours in the gym has shaped me into the person I am today!