Prologue: Just here to find the event information? You could scroll all the way down and skip the really important part. Or you could take a deep breath, realize that feelings and stories and people are important + you’ll still get to the bottom soon, and continue to read. Your choice!
Yesterday was a big day for the November Project movement: the big whopping 5 year anniversary. That’s right, November Project is heading to kindergarten. On Nov. 1, 2011, two huge giants decided to do something simple: work out, together, outside. But that simplicity of working out for a month, partnered alongside a community, a new language, some wholehearted excitement, and the cost of nothing, has grown into 32 tribes, 5 straight years of working out, 10000+ humans, 1.2 trillion hugs (yes – we have been counting every week), and hundreds of new friends, relationships, and connections. The dream and reality of two men, led to this.
And the fact that this thing, this movement, happened to each of us in a unique way over the past many years is kind of mind boggling. I was overwhelmed with the fact that Pat/Nick/I have been doing this nearly 3 years and November Project as a whole started 5 full years ago. We’ve changed in the past 5 years (hopefully for the better), so to look back and think of where we were and where we are now, and how NP has affected us, is truly a knock-me-off-my-feet feeling.
So as I was sitting and perusing Instagram as I do multiple times a day out of sure procrastination, I stumbled upon an Instagram of our dear tribemember Allison that caught my eye, and my heart. Something I wasn’t really able to convey yesterday, but that did so so clearly all I wanted to do was snap my fingers. There is something that stood out to me at the bottom: “I’m happy you’re here. I’m happy we’re all here.”
We’re happy you’re here. We’re happy you’re here. I’m happy you’re here. WE’RE HAPPY YOU’RE HERE. We don’t care if you screwed up at work or forgot to feed your fish or had a fight with your significant other. You don’t need to apologize for being low or crabby or sad or upset. You showed up, regardless of circumstance and outside feelings, and because of that WE ARE HAPPY YOU ARE HERE. Really and truly. And if the community hasn’t showed you that, we invite you to dive deeper.
I could probably ramble, show you my NP scrapbook, weep over the number of times I have had to tell people to straighten their backs for a photo, but I won’t. Instead I invite you to do a few things:
- Continue to #justshowup. Continue to meet new friends and dive deeper into this community
- Invite a friend to #justshowup and learn why this movement has made you excited for setting your alarm before 5AM. Talk to Grady if you need recruiting help – he is one of our most active recruiters now!
- Share your story with us. Go ahead, put a few thoughts down on paper and send your story to novemberprojectbmore@gmail.com.
- #JustShowUp to our screening of the new November Project film, “Showing Up” on Sunday, November 13th at 6PM. Free tickets will go up to the first 100 people at 10AM tomorrow on Facebook. Think midnight breakfast potluck, full out in your onesies and pajamas.
Regardless of your day (how great or terribly it might be going), remember the hugs, the fuck yeahs, the feeling you get from meeting a new friend and instantly connecting. Work may be terrible, but #justshowingup never is. Continue to do your thing and make this place we live just a little bit brighter. You never know, you could be one of the new people that creates something that changes everyone’s lives for the better.
xoxo,
Syd
