Meet Trailblazer Erin DeCuir

Today we’d like to introduce you to Erin DeCuir.

Erin, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I am former Division I college athlete; I played tennis at the University of Kansas for three years and the University of Louisiana for one. Prior to that, I traveled all over the US and Europe playing competitive junior tennis. After I graduated college, I coached junior tennis for about a year before I decided that, after 20+ years of playing tennis (I had been playing tennis since I was 2.5 years old!), I was ready to move on from it and try something new. I hung up my racquet for good and dove headfirst into CrossFit. I eventually started coaching CrossFit, and later, I was hired to manage a CrossFit gym in California. Fitness has played a huge role throughout my life, and for a long time, I had no identity outside of it.

It wasn’t until a little over two years ago that everything changed. My dad was diagnosed with a terminal lung disease, and when this happened, my husband and I quit our jobs, left California, and moved in with my parents in Colorado to help take care of my him. What we thought would be a 2-3 month stay turned into 2+ years. I have had to lean heavily on my faith, as I have struggled with purpose since leaving my job to care for my dad. I’ve felt as if I’ve been living in no man’s land the past couple of years.

I originally launched my blog, Exist in the Glow, as a creative outlet for myself. I am currently pursuing a master’s degree in English and creative writing, so blogging was a fun way to explore writing outside of the confines of my schoolwork. My blog then became something I used to share life updates with friends and family, and it has developed into a platform in which I share the good, the bad, and the ugly. It’s my hope that, through being transparent in sharing my own journey, people know they aren’t alone in theirs.

Has it been a smooth road?
I think we all go through trials and tribulations that shape us into the people we are today, and it is never an easy or a smooth road getting there. Those struggles shouldn’t be anything to be ashamed of. In fact, my advice to all women (and men, too!) is to share those stories with the world, because you never know who you’re helping by simply sharing your life with others.

For me personally, the biggest thing I’ve struggled with over the course of my life has been my need and desire for the approval of others. The best example I can give of this is my experience playing tennis. I played tennis for 20+ years, but I truly only enjoyed it for half that time. That means that ten years of the 20, I was doing something I didn’t love. I continued to play even though I hated it because I thought that if I quit, I’d be letting a lot of people down. That mindset carried over into my adult life and showed up in my job, in my friendships, in my romantic relationships, and even in the relationship I had with my own body. I was afraid to truly be myself and express my own thoughts and opinions because I thought I’d be judged for my choices, and I’d be left unwanted and unloved. In order to overcome that fear, I’ve had to be consistent in speaking up and doing things that are scary to me (like simply saying, “No, I don’t want to do that,” or “No, I don’t agree with that.”), and part of that has been using my blog to share my experiences with others. I know not every person will relate or agree with what I have to say, but I continue to do it for the one person that will. I hope that through my consistent sharing, I can help someone feel less alone and more supported in their time of hardship or struggle.

Please tell us more about Exist in the Glow, what you are currently focused on and most proud of.
As I mentioned earlier, I am pursuing a master’s degree in English and creative writing, so I love using my social media and my blog as a platform to be creative while fostering a connection with others. While social media can be a great place to connect with like-minded people, it can also be incredibly isolating. Many of us spend a lot of our free time on social media and are often left feeling dissatisfied with our own lives because we can’t help but compare ourselves to other people and their perfectly curated feeds. I don’t want people to feel that way when they read something I’ve written or see a picture I’ve posted. I try to be honest and transparent when I share anything online, and I pride myself on being authentically Erin. Something I say often is, “Be you, not them.” God made me uniquely me, just like He made each and every person uniquely them. If I’m trying to be like someone else, who is going to be me? That is what I’m most proud of, that I always show up as me, flaws and all.

Do you feel like there was something about the experiences you had growing up that played an outsized role in setting you up for success later in life?
I grew up an only child, and I was raised by two highly educated people. My mom has a Ph.D. in speech pathology, and my dad has three (!) engineering degrees. He has a bachelor’s in mechanical engineering and a bachelor’s AND masters in electrical engineering. Growing up, I put a lot of pressure on myself to be the best in school and in tennis, and that no doubt carried over into CrossFit and other aspects of my life. You could say I am a recovering perfectionist. Combine that with my desire to appease others and gain people’s approval, and you’ve got one very high-strung person! While my pursuit of perfection pushed me to work hard, it also caused me a lot of disappointment because I fell short every single time. That failure has been one of my biggest teachers. I’ve learned to embrace my imperfections and share my failures with the world, because without those things, I am not me, and I think that is what makes Exist in the Glow successful. People relate to the messy, the imperfect, and the chaos. When we embrace those things, we normalize them. When we normalize them, we eliminate the pressure to be perfect. When we eliminate the pressure to be perfect, we allow ourselves to show up as we are, and that’s the life I want for all of us.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.erindecuir.com
• Phone: 3372984173
• Email: erin.e.decuir@gmail.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/erin.e.decuir
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/existintheglow

Image Credit:
Sierra Ann Photography

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