The email...

Reaching out to others can be a powerful experience.  Walls come down for one person, while the other one helps in ways they probably don't realize.

Back in September I signed up for CrossFit.  After my first day I was strangely mortified and excited at the same time.  First of all I was thrilled that I had stepped out of my comfort zone and even went by myself.  I was mortified because of how far out of control I saw I had let myself get.

This when I got to meet Blair Morrison.  He is the owner of CrossFit Anywhere and he was so nice to me that I almost wanted to cry.  Actually, everyone there was so nice I wanted to cry. How could they be so nice to me when I was so hard on myself?  I really give props to Blair for creating an environment that anyone, at any level of fitness, could feel welcome and feel like they belong there.

I left that day and sent him an email thanking him and his response had a very big impact on how I was thinking about this journey of fitness.  I share it below because I think it apply's to anyone who is afraid to begin to workout because of feelings of inadequacies.

He may not know what kind of impact taking 10 minutes to write an email to me really had.  I look at this email often when I feel like I can't continue, when I retreat to a place of doubt about my ability, when I am overwhelmed with how far I have to go, and it helps me know that those feelings are not unique to me, but how I overcome them is.

What I really like about his approach is that he tells me I am not alone in how I feel.  He doesn't feel sorry for me.  He says it's up to me.  I feel empowered every time I read it.

On Thu, Sep 8, 2011 at 4:00 PM, Jenny Misirli wrote:

Hi Blair,

I just wanted to say thank you for helping me today.  It is a humbling experience for me who likes to do everything at a high level to not be able (yet) to do what others are doing.  It was a big decision even buying the groupon, but I am glad I did.

I just wanted to say thank you!  I will be there tomorrow at 6pm with my husband.

Have a great day…

Hi Jenny, sorry for my delayed response... My computer got sent to the apple store for repairs and I have been off email because of it.  A nice reprieve, I admit, but now I'm scrambling to catch up. 

 

Anyways, humbling experiences of any sort can be hard to process, and physically humbling ones even more so.  I'm glad you are willing to embrace this because it is honestly the only way to progress.  Fitness is hard because you have to fail to improve.  People that always stop short of their margins never get better because their body doesn't get the signal that it needs to anything different than it's already doing.  Logically this is easy to understand, but practically it feels like you're just constantly being humbled and that gets tiresome.  I've been there as an athlete, I've coached people through it as a personal trainer, and I've seen people succumb to it and continue on the road they were previously on.  It's not an easy thing to overcome.

 

The best way to succeed is to surround yourself with people who have decided to take on similar burdens.  No two goals are exactly the same and neither are two starting points.  But the intention and dedication can be.  It helps to know there are others experiencing similar struggles.  This is why CrossFit is special.  Everyone at the gym is doing something they're uncomfortable just about every day.  The things I ask of my members are challenging physically and mentally... this is meant to bind them together into a community that supports one another through harder times.  It works and you will see progress if you can stand the growing pains.

 

I hope to see you in again this week to continue the Onramp classes.  Please let me know if you have any questions or issues I can help with.

 

All the best,

 

Blair