One year ago to this day, I had a decision to make: to snooze or not to snooze. I had been in New Orleans for a mere two weeks now, and on my first day in this new city, my mom took me to meet an old friend named Linda – one of the OG members of NP NOLA. Upon our introduction, she suggested I #justshowup for one of November Project’s famed Champions Square workouts. When she told me the time, I remember thinking to myself, “ha! nope.”
Fast forward two weeks… I was finally “settling” in to this new city and it hit me… I know no one. So here I am, awkwardly messaging the November Project NOLA Facebook page, asking what I should bring and where I should park for the workout the next day:
I vividly remember that morning… It went something like this:
5:00 a.m. – Alarm begins beeping.
5:01 a.m. – I reset my alarm for 5:15 a.m.
5:15 a.m. – Alarm goes off again. “Fuck.” *rolls out of bed*
5:20 a.m. – I slip on my Texas sports bra, my favorite workout outfit, and chug some water.
5:30 a.m. – I’m in my car on the way to Champions Square, blasting “Right Above It” and trying to ignore the fact that I’m about to interact with a large crowd of humans, most of whom (all but one) I do not know.
5:43 a.m. – I awkwardly walk up to Champions Square and some dude in a backwards hat and a shirt with “November Project” tagged across his chest approaches me as if he’s going to give me a hug. “Hey, I’m Lou, and we hug here!” *awkwardly embraces this stranger, questioning decision to even get up*
The next 17 minutes were consumed with me trying to remember names, find Linda (who I learned is notorious for showing up right at 6am), and avoiding feeling awkward. I was successful at… none.
6:00 a.m. – We start gathering around Louis for this thing he calls a “bounce.” I just went with the flow… and then he told us to turn to someone, introduce ourselves and compliment that person. So I turn to this stranger next to me, overwhelmed by this minuscule task, practically forget my name, and say… “I like your shirt.”
WTF. ALL I COULD THINK ABOUT IS “I like your shirt”?!?! I’m officially embarrassed, uncomfortable, and have determined that I should never come back because I am a straight up fool.
A minute later, everyone yelled “FUCK YEAH” and started running. Now I was all hyped up because I fucking love cursing, but Lou held us back for a “newbie” meeting. During this meeting, he had us sign a waiver and then told us that the workout was meant to be at our own pace and to take it easy on the stairs for today because there was another part of the workout to follow. *eyeroll* and I was off.
We worked out, sweat a lot, I almost puked, I forgot a bunch of names, and then we sat down for the picture. I thought to myself “woah, it’s already over?!” They handed out this thing called the Positivity Award and they all laughed, hugged and supported each other. I went home in awe of this group of people – not only did they wake up at god-awful hours to workout, but they also seemed genuinely happy to be there, with each other and for each other, for that one hour each week.
I’m telling you this story because I want everyone reading this to realize that everyone’s first day is different; whether you loved it or hated it, felt welcomed or awkward, fit in or stood out, the decision to just show up does not go unnoticed and I want you to know that I am so fucking glad you are here.
Fast forward to today. It’s my one year anniversary of making the decision to #justshowup and you could say I’m pretty fucking glad I did. Not only do I get the opportunity to stand in front of all of your beautiful faces 3 days a week, but I also consistently get the joy of feeling so unbelievably loved and trusted by this tribe. More than that, I feel welcome, similar to that first morning when that weird, blonde-headed stranger opened his arms wide open to hug me (thanks, Louis).
Tribe, I have a challenge for you today and moving forward: I want you to think about the first morning you decided to just show up… ask yourself why you did? And then ask yourself why you came back. Was it that first hug? Or someone remembering your name? Was it the fuck yeah or the great feeling you had all day after?
Whatever it may be, embrace that reason and find a way to make it someone else’s reason too. Find a way to be the Linda and Louis in this story. Embrace the beauty of this movement and help spread it out to those who need it most, just like I needed it one year ago. I never knew how much this movement could change a life… until I made the decision to just show up.
Go win your day, NOLA.
See y’all Friday at Shelter 1, 6am.
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I fucking love cursing too! This is what’s going to make me show up.