CrossFit & amor fati (a love of fate)

Five years ago today, I took my first CrossFit class. The workout was called “Nasty Girls”. I was SO NERVOUS walking into the gym!! I didn’t know anyone, my hands wouldn’t stop sweating, and I was so scared I was literally shaking. At the time, I remember thinking “um, I can’t do those ring things”, and wasn’t sure why the workout was named. In hindsight, how lucky am I that my first wod was such an OG CrossFit workout?!! To this day, Rx'ing “Nasty Girls” is still one of my biggest CrossFit goals.

Of course, you know how the rest of the story goes. I did a very scaled version of the workout, I got my ass kicked. I FREAKIN LOVED IT. The energy I felt in that gym and in myself from the experience was ELECTRIC. I was sold.

One of my favorite expressions is, “When you know, you know”. Well, let’s just say I knew I loved CrossFit from the start.

CrossFit has added a richness to my life that I don’t know how to describe.

It’s more than just a daily workout.

It’s more than just a platform to improve health and fitness.

It’s more than just a community of people that I love and adore and feel fiercely loyal to.

I don’t care if I’ve done a WOD with you two times or fifty times, I will forever have this wolfpack-ish willingness to go to bat for you, anytime. There is always a constant encouragement present in the CrossFit community to “be a little better” each day. And that little bit of “better” has never failed to trickle into the rest of my life.

Over the last five years, CrossFit, to me, has been this living, breathing, constantly evolving entity of support. It has always been there, and however I’ve needed it – whether it’s just been to move, compete, get rid of stress, or be with friends. But it’s also a dance of give and take. You have to be a contributor of energy too. If we can help one person one day, we all benefit. Talk about the most incredible system of pay-it-forward. I’m sorry, in what other community can you experience that?!!

I could go on and on about all the phases I’ve been through with CrossFit, all the highs and lows, everything that has changed, and everything that hasn’t changed (like yes, I still get butterflies before every workout, and I’m still VERY EMOTIONAL!!). But it’s impossible to articulate all the ways in which CrossFit has impacted my life for the better. So rather than say much more, here is my biggest takeaway from the past five years:
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GENUINE CONNECTION & SHARED EXPERIENCE TRUMPS EVERYTHING.
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I can’t do it all or be everything at the same time. I still try to plenty of times(!)… but it never works. No one can! CrossFit has been a great reminder that life is so much better when you’re not alone. The magic happens again and again when I let myself be vulnerable, and in THOSE moments, let in others. So it’s no surprise that all my favorite moments in CrossFit have not happened by myself.

To everyone that I’ve ever shared a moment with – and you know who you are!!! – thank you. Seriously, THANK YOU.

To wrap it all up, I want to share an expression that I came across last night for the first time:

AMOR FATI. It means “a love of fate”.

“It is a mindset that you take on for making the best out of anything that happens: Treating each and every moment—no matter how challenging—as something to be embraced, not avoided. To not only be okay with it, but love it and be better for it. So that like oxygen to a fire, obstacles and adversity become fuel for your potential.”

And who happened to coin that phrase? Nietzsche.

(Um, what?! Is this real?? Did you read my second blog post???!!!)
time out as I practice some nasal breathing to calm down right now…

I think amor fati is the perfect expression to capture my journey so far with CrossFit – and really, my life. What a beautiful concept to believe in! I really don’t think that any of the people or experiences I have come across have been a coincidence, and I could not be more grateful for all of it. <3

PS: I think I may have just found my first tattoo with “amor fati” … Am I right??!