Rita Williams is executive director of Women's Resource Center
in North Platte, a crisis pregnancy center.
Free "CardioJam with Rita" classes
are at 6 a.m. Monday through Friday and at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday
and Thursday at the Salvation Army temporary facility at Sixth and
Jeffers in North Platte, NE.
No reservations are necessary.
Rita Williams of North
Platte found renewed health and energy for herself and a way to help others
through teaching a free aerobics class.
Working it All out
Rita Williams of North Platte was facing her 40th birthday. Adding to the
gloom of that milestone birthday was her weight - more than 200 pounds on
her 5-foot, 2-inch frame - plus anemia, low estrogen and high triglycerides.
Williams showed up for her appointment with North Platte nurse practitioner
Mary Dailey, fully expecting to leave the office with a prescription for
anti-depressants.
"She chose a better program for me," Williams said.
The medical professional didn't know that by guiding Williams in the right
direction to regain
her own health, other women would also be
given the means and the inspiration
to overcome their health problems. And Williams couldn't have known then
that her search to improve her health would also provide the story line
for her to become a published writer.
Following the prescribed program set out by the nurse practitioner, Williams’s
health began to improve. As she began feeling better, she used her new strength
and energy to start a high-energy, low-impact aerobics class for overweight
women.
The Salvation Army in North Platte provides free gym space and Williams
charges no fees to those who attend "CardioJam with Rita."
Williams, with help from a couple friends, leads eight aerobic classes a
week, Monday through Friday.
"It is two years and 60 pounds later. More than that, my blood pressure,
estrogen and overall health is 100 percent better," she said.
The changes have not only affected Williams’ life but have also changed
the health and lives of many of the women who, noting her success, began
exercising with her.
"There are women whose blood pressures are down and weight is definitely
a huge factor for all of us. You should see the women who are 30, 35 or
older in my class. They are doing great," Rita says, enthusiastically.
When Rita read the request for submissions to "Chicken Soup for the
Mid-Life Soul," she knew she had to share not only the story of her
success but that of the other women in her class.
After two weeks of writing and rewriting about her search for renewed health
and as an aerobics instructor, Rita submitted her story. It was accepted
and will be in the book due to be published in Fall 2003.
Rita didn't write the story to glorify herself or to see her name in print
or for the fee paid to each writer who has an article in the book.
Rita's goal was simple; to speak to others who feel as she once did.
"I want to inspire anyone who feels as I did. I felt like lying down
to die. I was feeling like it was too late to do anything about it."
Rita hopes her story will give others the will and the desire to break out
of the illness and weight trap, as she has, and gain renewed health.
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