The 1st Stop on Tour & The Final 2 Days
A quick note before today's post: We are in the final 2 days of the IndieGoGo Campaign and already at 72% funded!To make the rest of this tour happen, we need you. The campaign ends tomorrow!
If you've been waiting to donate, please take action now. CLICK HERE
If you've already donated, from the bottom of our souls, thank you! If you could please share the movement just one more time, you could help us hit goal and make this Tour happen! Here are a couple of easy click-to-tweets if you'd like to share:
It's super easy to share it on Facebook, too. Just click here, then click the "Share" button underneath the video on the left.Thank you thank you thank you for all your support, love and fight. I'll never give up on you and I hope I get to show you how to keep fighting for yourself, too!*****
This year, everything's different.The Tour has officially started, but it's not nearly as familiar as I thought it would be.The class is different. The theme is different. The guests are different. The program that we're creating to keep participants engaged and moving this year didn't even exist last year!All that said, I walked into our very first Strong Inside Out Tour Stop last Friday in Portland, Oregon, not quite sure what to expect, or how it would go.For weeks before, I'd been practicing my brand new bootcamp structure. With a new theme (Who are you fighting for?), and an all-new motivational approach, I wasn't sure how it would be reciprocated, or if I'd be able to cue as often or as eloquently as I desired.I was nervous for months... So I practiced by myself even before I had people to practice with. I ran through it at my gym wherever there was space, and talked to myself like I would to the class.So I'm "that girl" at my gym now, which is fine with me because when I walked into Portland, I felt prepared. Nervous, but prepared!
I arrived at our event space, CrossFit Portland, 45 minutes early, while a class was still in session. Bootcampers started filing in quickly about half an hour before we were set to start. People I hadn't seen for the last year since our final stop along The 30x30 Project Tour, and people I'd never met lined up to sign in.I sat in awe. These were people who were choosing to be a part of this movement! These were people who were taking time out of their busy pre-conference (The World Domination Summit started that night) schedule to support this message of hope and strength!One pair of ladies in particular brought me to tears. I saw these two strolling up to the huge open garage door that is the front of CrossFit Portland, looking around for a sign. I walked up and asked if they were here for the class, and one looked up at me and said, "Yes, we just drove three and a half hours to be here."I looked back at her, shocked. She just smiled.When I shook off my wide-eyed disbelief face, I thanked her and asked how she'd heard of the class. Surely, she must have driven in for the conference."No," she smiled. "We came down just for this. I follow Strong Inside Out and I wanted to be a part of your first class of this year's tour."Every time I hear that someone has gone out of their way to be a part of something I've created, my mind gets blown. I grew up caring about so many things that never seemed to matter to anyone else. My feelings didn't matter, to my peers, to teachers, so I just felt like maybe they never would. Even with a cause as worthy as this, as important as I know–logically–it is, I guess I still jump to the conclusion sometimes that it won't matter to anyone else because I started it.I'm working on that. With people popping up all over the world, going out of their way to make this movement successful through donations and sharing, I am learning very fast that doubt has no place here.As I stood there, smiling and tearing up and not knowing what to do with the welling emotion, all I could do was say "Thank you," over and over again and hug them both... probably harder than I meant to. I don't think they realized how much it really meant to me that they drove so far. Ladies, if you're reading this, now you know. Thank you... again.I didn't have much time to hang around in my awkward emotional state. I had a class to teach! At the start of class, we had 23 eager participants looking at me, expecting greatness.
Deep breath.
Give you, give love.
Ever since last year's tour and speaking in front of 3,000 people at The 2013 World Domination Summit, this has become my mantra in public speaking and teaching situations. It never fails to root me in the fact that this is all I can give: myself and my love.So I did just that. I sweat just as much as everyone else in that class. I screamed for them to stay with me. I pleaded with them to give up "perfect," and embrace their own edge. I fought alongside them and at the end, we all prevailed, just as we all will if we refuse to give up.
The feedback was stellar. Everyone loved the motivational message, the energy I am determined to give in each and every class I teach, and everyone came up to me the next day complaining (aka bragging) about sore legs and butts... which, in my book, means success. ;)After a refreshing juice (ok, two... they were delicious!) from our sponsor, Portland Juice Co., I left our very first bootcamp of this year's Tour with more friends than I'd come in with and a renewed sense of purpose that was echoed by a friend of mine later...He'd stopped by to help my photographer, and told me something I will treasure always:"To watch you teach that class was to watch someone do what they were put on this Earth to do."That's exactly how I feel, too, even though I still have those old feelings of unworthiness pop up now and again. I'm ready to fight them, and to make this happen for everyone who feels that way every single day.
If you read Strong Inside Out, you are a part of this movement. You believe in what we stand for, and you use what I teach in your own life.You keep following this site for a reason. Maybe it's inspiration. Maybe it's workout tips. Maybe it's because you struggle with much of what I do or did.You are a part of this because you fight every day. You wake up, you do what needs to be done and you are still here.I don't often ask for much here on Strong Inside Out, but today, I'm going to ask that you help us bring this movement to people who don't know that it exists. There are still so many people out there who don't know that there's another way to live. There is a life of choice, in spite of whatever chemical makeup or past experiences you've been dealt.We are so close to goal, Strongies. Please, help us grow this movement.
To give what you can and to share the movement, please click here.
There is no donation or share too small. Just as I'm working on my fear of our work not mattering, I want you to challenge the voice that tells you your voice isn't loud enough or that what you can spare isn't big enough. You matter. What you choose to do matters.A lot will happen between now and the next time I see you here. I hope you'll be a part of the miracle in between.See you on the other side...Stay strong,Amy