There are those good surprises, like birthday parties where everyone you love jumps out yelling “surprise!” Or when parents surprised their kids by saying “we’re going to Disney World…in an hour–go pack a bag,” or like when CPayne proposed to Britto and she didn’t know it was coming, but then was happy it did.
And then there are the not so good surprises, like when I was three and misheard my sister telling me to “Go to Gwen” (who is my stepmother, and who was sitting in a chair by the pool) and instead thought she told me to “go to the deep end” (which was beyond my swimming capacity) but because I was only three I didn’t rationalize what a bad idea that was. Surprise…the deep end is deep! Surprise…I couldn’t swim! I almost drowned, but my dad finally noticed I wasn’t with the other kids.
Every Monday is a surprise with November Project in Boston. We tell you where to show up, but whether we’re going to do a million and 74 burpees or hug 12 people and then go home is totally luck of the draw. Some folks just skip Mondays all together because you don’t like the uncertainty of what we might end up doing. And others roll the dice (literally and figuratively) week after week for running, Black Falcon sprints, burpees, rolling in the mud, scavenger hunts, and more. When life is filled with run-of-the-mill days, and we’re locked in to routines day-after-day, the spontaneity of the NP #destinationdeck is often just the right amount of spice to keep us feeling some sparks of excitement.
Never has this surprise element of Mondays been more relevant than this morning. We’ve heard of the #sunrise6k. We’ve hyped that race before. You’ve run it before. We’ve made plans to get our asses there to race against others in the tribe, in other tribes, and to throw down at an unusual distance. But today was simply a SURPRISE! #sunrise6k–reinforcing for everyone that what we do at NP is training for life.
Sometimes life throws things at you that you just don’t expect. They might be “good” surprises or challenging ones, but when we practice just showing up no matter what, we get better at being present for and successfully navigating whatever comes. When we practice being open to whatever we face by racing everything & making no excuses even when it’s hard (or cold or dark), we get stronger and and more resilient. And think about this: If you weren’t there this morning, you probably wish you had been. Even though it was a surprise! It would have been hard, but you would have been there. You would have been with the tribe, inspired and inspiring, making the most out of the day–even before the sun came up!
If you were there: track your time for today’s #sunrise6k.
I wish I had a nickel for every one I heard say, “Geez, I wore my Monday sneakers.” #tribetalk