GUEST BLOG Megan Pelka. A Buffalo original

“Life is a bitch. If it was a slut, it would be easy.”

My parents always taught me to try everything once.  Girl Scouts taught me to Be Prepared. Yoga taught me to show up.  NP taught me preparing to show up is setting yourself up for the Best Day ever.  I am always preparing myself for the next step and evolving if the next step sucks.  “Hope for the best.  Plan for the worst.”  I the past, I was always preparing for the next thing mindlessly and not really living in the moment; preparing for school, preparing for work, preparing for retirement, preparing for Happy Hour.

I moved from Maine to New York when I was 12, so I had to be ready to be outgoing and ready to leave my friends and prior life behind and try new things.  And try I did.  I was a great “cheerleader” at soccer and Number One seed in picking dandelions in the outfield at softball games, but had a great time doing so!

I didn’t even  know what a stenographer was before I went to college.  I thought I was going to be the female Frank Lloyd Wright because I liked cool houses.  When I realized I wasn’t, I reevaluated my talents:  Language, typing, useless trivia and spelling.  I tried a new approach and graduated with an Associate’s Degree in Court and Realtime Reporting from Alfred State College in 2004.  I moved to Buffalo, New York and began my life of trying a little bit of everything until I figured out what was best for me. 

Then, I blinked and I was 30.  I quit smoking, picked up a healthy habit of working out and the rest is history.  I tried yoga and immediately was hooked.  I ran a couple half marathons with my newly-found lungs and was not immediately hooked.  Now, I run a couple 5K’s a year: The one before the Buffalo Marathon on Memorial Day Weekend and the 50-Yard Finish that takes runners on a hilly 3.2 miles around the New Era Field.  I still call it the Ralph. 

November Project and Baptiste power yoga were the things that lit me up and got me realizing there is no future.  Now is now and now is the only thing that matters.  How I show up for my workouts is how I show up for my life.  It doesn’t matter if the forecast is shitty.  It just matters that I show up to do burpees in the rain.  What if it snows?  Just show up. What if I am injured?  Just show up.  What if I can’t get my sleepy ass out of bed?  Just show up.  This ain’t the July Project. 

I’ve got to work with what I’ve got, not what someone else has got.  I got a high platelet count (that I freely give away every two weeks and YOU should too), the gift of gab and dedication.  I’m not here to change lives. I’m here to encourage you to just try.  I’m also here to work out and if I make 100 or 200 new friends, AWESOME. 

I tracked food, water, exercise and sleep for about five years and in that time, I went through three Fitbits and kept off a whopping six pounds.  I learned that fitness trackers can be 30% off but still “accurate”.  I learned that constantly looking at my phone for guidance and not my brain was not working for me when I wasn’t training for distance running.  I learned how my body works and feels and rebounds and aches.

I now judge workouts by effort and body feel because that’s what works for me now.  I say no to things that don’t light me up.  I say yes to new things that are teaching moments.  Even if I don’t learn something, I could be inadvertently teaching someone else.  I have to take a “No Thank You” helping. I do not allow myself to say I can’t do something or I don’t like to do something if I have never tried it.  Except burpees.  I tried those fuckers and they suck, but I still (modified, albeit) do them.  I try it and if it’s not my jam, I find another jam. 

A wise Jedi master once said, “Do or do not.  There is not try.”  This is the only time I disagree with a Jedi.  I try.  I try all day every day.  I try to be the best Megan, the best girlfriend, the best daughter, the best sister, the best aunt, the best Godmother and the best friend every day.  I try my best and that’s all I can do.  That’s why it’s called my best. 

It doesn’t get better.  You get better and  you make everyone else better by just showing up and trying.

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