Oar-lando: Positivity Award - November Project

They show up.

They not only push themselves with cold, logical determination, they carry the rest of the tribe to higher altitudes of greatness. Every encounter with them leaves you encouraged, happy really.
Infectious positivity, quiet or loud, others notice their hearts of gold.

Many of our Tribe members embody this character, and we are lucky to have you show up with us each Wednesday.

World, it’s a pleasure to introduce our Positivity Award honoree this month: Dave Camous.
We asked Dave if he’d like to share a bit of his story (“YES!”), and we are honored. Take it away, Dave!

How the Heck Did That Happen?
. . . that I received an award from an international fitness movement! Seriously, can someone verify that this isn’t just an episode of Punk’d! Look, I will never be confused for the poster child of fitness. First of all, I’m twice the age of most people who are NP Tribe members. Second, while I’ve always been physically active, I’m not a fitness god or goddess like our tribe leaders. I don’t even have a great emotional and compelling story like those amazing people that are featured on the Showing Up documentary. No, with a body that could only hold its own in an International Cadaver Convention (maybe), I am about as unlikely a candidate as any to be singled out to receive NP-ORL’s first coveted Positivity Award . . . but maybe that’s the point . . .

So, my journey to NP didn’t even start on this earth. (Dramatic pause while you wonder if I’m one of those amazing astronauts that work in Florida . . . yeah, not so much . . . ) My journey to NP began not on the earth, but . . . on the sea. I was working the last four plus years as an HR Manager on a cruise ship. Sounds far more exotic than it is. Okay, it is a little exotic. I traveled all over the world and have amazing friends from all over the globe. But being a married person I finally got to the point where I thought it might be nice to see my wife more than a few weeks at a time, twice a year. So, I acquired a more traditional land-based job in Florida. I now had the challenge of consciously getting off my butt and needing to work on physical fitness. On a ship it never was really a big problem for me. I worked 12 hours a day and rarely stopped moving around a 1000 foot long, 16 story tall ship. Add to that I had a first class gym in my own ‘home’ for dedicated workouts. The fitness part was not too hard. Surprisingly, I even ate well. My focus was on proteins and vegetables with minimal carbs . . . except for the liquid kind. Hey, we all need balance in our lives! But now that I was back on land I needed a more conscious approach to staying in shape.

Our daughter, Dani Camous, had recently joined the NP tribe in DC and recommended we find a local tribe when we got settled in Florida. So, when we arrived in March I jumped online to find . . . NOTHING! (sigh) So, I buried my disappointment in liquid carbs and a Planet Fitness membership and hoped I wouldn’t devolve into Jabba the Hut.

The Call
Aforementioned daughter called one afternoon around June 20th to excitedly say she would be flying down to visit the following week. While always happy to see beloved progeny I was surprised by the unexpected trip. The reason? She had heard that someone was trying to pledge an NP tribe in Orlando and she and two other DC tribe members were planning to come down just to attend the first workout. Mystery solved. NP workout justifies parental visit. The next week I welcomed Dani, Hirsh Kravits, and Kelly Harley to begin their #26hoursinorldando. They arrived mid-day and the next morning, for the first time, I would bounce.

The Bounce
We arrived at the parking lot of the University of Central Florida softball stadium greatly confusing several UCF police who seemed to be setting up for some disaster exercise. Our fearless leader, Allison, invited us to follow her to the neighboring parking structure and the 20+ bewildered attendees headed on a quarter mile jog to the four story concrete block. At 6:29am on 6/29/16 the nascent NP-ORL bounced for the first time. I quickly adapted to the no personal space or boundaries of the bounce (after all, I lived on a cruise ship), and the f*** yeahs were also in line with my previous workplace. However as the workout progressed from running up four flights of stairs, doing hoistees or burpees with random strangers, bear walking across a HUGE parking deck, running back down to do pushups . . . and then starting all over again, I found myself only counting the minutes till the ordeal ended. I kept thinking how much I must love my daughter to have gotten up so early to put myself through this, and how that reservoir of love was quickly emptying onto the rapidly warming Orlando pavement.
The following week we were told that the workout would move to Lake Baldwin adding 10 miles to my journey to fitness. With no daughter to motivate us to go, a too early wake up call, a less than favorable memory of the last workout, and extra miles to travel, this was not the recipe for making it for a second week. Oddly though, when the alarm went off my wife, Rosie, and I dragged our sorry asses out of bed, took the drive to Lake Baldwin, completed the workout . . . and were hooked.

Positively Hooked
So hooked, in fact, that through the grace of God and incredible stubbornness I have not yet missed one of the 25 workouts that our tribe has conducted. (Stubbornness and sarcasm being my two most endearing qualities) Even when I suffered a Grade 2/3 ankle and foot sprain as a result of an ill-timed hurdle in a questionable end of workout relay race (Allison and Travis, let’s not try that Olympic combo swimming hurdling thing again), I showed up the next week in a boot and walked the workout.

Why am I hooked? No question, a big part is the people. Allison and Travis have proven to be motivational leaders, but every one of these crazy people is important to me and I can’t think of going a week without seeing them. Nathan, Staci, Nikki, Hung, Danielle, Matt, Regina, Neele, Lynsey, Kristine, just to name the ‘hard core,’ you effin’ make Rosie’s and my week. Always makes me smile when David, Maria, Mo, Mary, Jill, Jenso, Lydia or any of the other ‘irregulars’ make it. The positive energy each Wednesday morning is truly the highlight of my week even on those days when I leave blood on the concrete. Where else can you walk up and give a sweaty hug to someone on the street and not get arrested? Will never forget how we lifted each other up the day after the national election and reminded ourselves there were still things to smile and laugh about. On the ship my crew became my family and I knew we always had each other’s backs no matter the circumstances. I feel the same way about our Tribe. And one final comparison to the ship crew . . . you are all just a little bit crazy! Let’s face it, the worst part of being back on shore is that land life is frankly boring compared to living on a ship. NP brings the craziness that I miss.