Forget what you read online, what you hear other people talking about, and what you believe everyone else thinks you should do. The New Year isn’t really all about goals and resolutions in order to become someone different. It IS a new year, and each of us gets to decide whether we remain the same person or use the turn of the calendar page to create new intention and purpose, as we live each new day. The undeniable truth is that we continue to evolve every moment–every day that we are alive, and we decide the path of that evolution.
This morning November Project Boston held our first workout of 2017. It was free. It was Fierce. It was even pretty fun. And, importantly, it was new.
We decided to try something out, and evolve. To diverge from the exact same thing that everyone might expect. Granted we didn’t do an underwater work out or a flying trapeze work out or get our sweat on at a trampoline park. (Who thinks those things are fun anyway?!) but I’ve never heard so many people walking away from the work out on a Monday saying, “I’ve never done that before!”
To give a little context, we have this thing called the #Sunrise6k, which our tribe has raced before and will race again just two weeks from today, on Martin Luther King Jr. Monday. So rather than just set the date and announce the hash tag #ML6K, we decided to do something new…training for speed. We’ve reminded everyone that #raceeverything is a Core value of this tribe, which is about focusing on growth, improvement, and challenging ourselves to be better, which we test by racing. So going to the track to do some speed work today was the best way that we could prepare the tribe to be ready for the 6K race.
Going to the track is a little scary, especially if you’ve never done it before. Being one of those people who does a “speed workout” can be like “wtf, I don’t do this!” if that’s not in your normal training regime. But doing something new, while a little scary, or weird, or uncomfortable at first, is also the only way we ever get to say, “Wow! that was awesome!” It’s the only way we move beyond what is comfortable and safe, and into a place of exploration, change and growth. Whether today was your first day running 800s, 600s, 400s or 200s around a track, or if you do it every week, every single one of us has had that moment where we find ourselves wondering if we’re going too fast (“I might pass out!) but everyone else is going so fast too, so we just keep going. Or the moment when we see someone just a few steps ahead of us and something inside of us speaks like an un-earthly being, insisting that we chase down and catch that person. Or the moment when you cross the finish line of one interval and believe in every cell of our bodies that we can NOT, absolutely cannot do that again, but then before we know it, we’re lined up and starting the next interval. And that amazing feeling when we know how cold it is outside but we’re steamy and sweaty, ready to strip layers from our bodies while the grass still holds icy frost on it’s blades. We are capable of so much more than we realize!
When we try something new, we find spaces of strength, confidence and the ability to meet challenge head on. We also sometimes find challenges bigger than we’re ready to overcome in the moment–but that doesn’t prevent us from staying open to new things. If we only do things we’re already good at, we’ll eventually find the world getting smaller. But when we do things we’re good at, AND things that we aren’t yet good at, AND things that we’re curious about, AND things that people who we trust and admire enjoy doing, AND things that scare us a little…well then, the world of possibilities opens up. Maybe this morning was your first track workout and it opened up a whole door of running, training, and social opportunities because now there are simply fewer excuses between you and your next track workout. Maybe this morning was your first Monday Destination Deck or NP workout and it opened up a whole new world of free fitness opportunities. Maybe this morning was simply the first day of the rest of the year and it’s simply an opportunity to live it fully.
So go ahead and set your goals and declare your resolutions, if that helps you focus on 2017 in a more empowered, exciting, “Fuck Yeah” kind of way. And #nomatterwhat, let 2017 be filled with doing something new. You just might be surprised with the new you that you find along the way.
Keep changing the world.
Sunrise #ML6K: Monday, Jan 16. Tell all your friends. Race Fee: $0 #JustShowUp
