As many of you will know – it’s probably been pretty hard to miss the news – Monica left Toronto to start her new job in Vancouver this week. Mel, Rich and the tribe in YVR have promised to take care of her for us, but before that happens we want to share Monica’s story with you. It’s a long one, but it is well worth reading. As she put it to us, this is “what happens when Monica has a 5h flight to write a blog post and said blog becomes a mini novel“.
Monica’s November Project journey:
“August 2015
While on vacation in BC, I received a message from my good friend Cathleen- she told me about November Project, a free fitness movement with a “tribe” in Edmonton that was “pledging” in Toronto. She encouraged me to #justshow up. If Cathleen says this shit is good, it must be. So I started following this fitness group on Instagram. I watched their weekly posts, started year 2 of my Masters and set an alarm to #justshowup every Wednesday. Every Wednesday I chickened out – September and October passed. The fear that I wasn’t fit enough or couldn’t keep up with this impressively good looking and athletic group won every week as I hit snooze. Every. Single. Week. But days were getting shorter, the weather was getting colder.
November 2015
On a cool, dark morning in the first week of November, I finally made it. It was November after all, and this was November Project. I don’t think anyone forgets his or her first NP morning – you’re there for a 30ish minute mystery workout with complete strangers, outside at some random location in your city. Much of the year it it still looks and feels like the middle of the night at 6:29am. One those days you can’t quite make out anyone’s faces too clearly, never mind remembering names. And then as a newbie there are some hugs from strangers and lots of awkward standing around while the people that know each other talk about the things going on in their lives as you wait for the bounce/workout to start. During my first workout (and in the first few months of showing up) I just wasn’t convinced I was fit enough to join this thing called November Project. I felt awkward and uncertain and really inadequate next to the amazingly fit athletes I seemed to be surrounded by. I struggled to keep up on PR day and was lapped many times as we looped Casa Loma. But I persisted. These strangers smiled at me, gave me hugs and welcomed me into their world. The only person judging my fitness level was me. These strangers gave me high fives, said “see you next week” and sent me Facebook messages and friend requests. I was welcomed into their world and accepted for just showing up.
July 2016
And so I kept showing up. I persisted despite often feeling rather awkward not really knowing everyone while they all seemed to know each other. I made a last minute decision to check out this annual NP event thing called Summit. It was with these still mostly strangers so a weekend away with them was far outside my comfort zone. 3 NP YYZers and 1 American made up our last minute marathon relay team. We struggled to sort out the logistics of where to stay. The co-leaders connected me to a girl named Kelly. We had never formally met before and yet she warmly invited me to stay with her and her team at her family’s house. The next Wednesday, just a few days before Summit, she arrived at the workout asking, “Who’s Monica?” – we hugged (obviously) and we quickly became friends.
Summit 4.0
At Summit I could quasi-recognize faces of the Toronto tribe at the base of Blue Mountain. I continued to feel a little (lot) awkward not knowing everyone’s names and making nervous conversation before it was my turn to run on my marathon relay team. The “run” was a series of endless and ridiculously steep hills. It was probably one of the hardest and most rewarding things I’ve ever done. After my leg of the relay was over, a guy I recognized from weekly workouts (Frank) introduced himself to me and we enjoyed popsicles while cheering on the collective awesomeness that is Summit. Later that day, a few NP YYZ relay teams waited on the side of the trail to run in our last relay runner across the finish line. As I stood there, a stunningly beautiful girl in a fun pink glitter team shirt introduced herself to me as Erin. I remember leaving our conversation thinking about how warm, supportive and encouraging she was. She’s fit and strong and also one of the most down to earth and humble people I’ve ever met. I left that weekend with something that can only be described as (to use Natalie’s word) WOW. This shit is good. These humans that decide to #justshowup are the best of the best. And one thing was for certain, I needed more WOW and awesome human in my life.
October 2016
And so I kept showing up, and even started to go to social nights. At first social nights felt so completely far out of my comfort zone. I had the impression that all the people there already knew each other. And there I was – I didn’t know anything about any of them other than their ability to impressively run many repeats of the Casa Loma stairs. On one social night, the NP film was shown. Afterwards, I hesitantly joined the group at to a pub. There I sat beside a Scottish Lass I eventually learned the name of (Natalie). We quickly laughed together about clumsy fitness mishaps/injuries (and life and travel and being newish to Toronto). We became rather fast friends. I love how diverse her fitness passions are and how easily we just clicked. It turned out that small talk and awkward long pauses were not something I had to worry about with these NPers. Everyone is genuinely interested in getting to know each other. They wanted to know more about me as much as I want to know more about them. How wonderful is that?
May 2017
It was the first Wednesday of the month – which means two things: PR day and NP Social. When I walked into that month’s pub of choice and saw three long tables full of NPers. As I walked in, those who saw me first shouted my name, waved me over and then gave me a hug. We easily slid into a conversation and I got to become better friends with newer tribe members. That night I mingled from table to table. At some point on my way home, I realized that this once group of strangers now feels like a family – my family. Week after week they are happy to see me and I feel beyond lucky to call them my NP family. Through sweat, laughter, breakups, tears, graduations, BQs, PBs, PRs, career changes, travels, and engagements – through the fun stuff and the not so fun stuff, they are there for me week after week, all united by the shared goal of being the best version of ourselves.
Somehow, by just showing up, November Project NP changed my life – it has changed my life in the best possible way. It has expanded my world to include more hugs, laughter, smiles, and high fives. It has supported me as I pushed myself to do what felt like the impossible – to run a full 42.2km this year. It has introduced me to the best of the best humans. People that believe in me and lovingly push me and encourage me to test my limits and then surpass them. And as I look back and forward today, I am in awe. That’s part of the magic of NP – On a daily basis, it’s hardly conceivable and seems impossible to measure the tiny shifts, changes and budding relationships. But when you take a step back, you realize how much awesome has been added to your life.
Why do we get up so early? Why do we look forward to 6:25am Wednesday mornings? Why do we find joy and motivation within a group of people we barely even know?
The first thing you don’t realize is that after meeting people at NP, you feel like they are family, that you’ve known them forever. And one day you wake up and you can no longer imagine a world where they don’t exist and you can’t really recall why on earth it took you so long to #justshowup. NP will change your life if you let it. It changed mine. This shit is good. Showing up to November Project has given me the most incredible friendships, a larger family. And more than that, it reminds me again and again of the beauty of real human interaction – hugging, high-fiving, partner-planking, whatever.
Fuck yeah.
NP YYZ – you mean the world to me.”
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
- PR Day next week. That means we’ll be tagging #grassrootsgear for those who want it.
- PR Day next week. That also means there’s a Wednesday night social. Details can be found here.
- June Challenge: the winner will be announced at the workout next week!
- ECSON: Event is here!
