....keeping together is progress; working together is success.
A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.
Some cyclists.
Several runners.
A widow.
A hula hooper.
A kayaker.
School teachers.
Retirees.
East coasters, Texans, Southerners, Midwesterners.
Hockey players.
Walkers.
Gardeners.
Bird watchers.
A piano teaching bike commuter.
A cycle shop owner.
Europeans.
Cancer survivors.
What do all these have in common?
They all motivate me each and every day.
Back in November I decided to combine my selfish need to hold myself accountable to exercising regularly again and spreading awareness of Movember - the month men grow mustaches to raise awareness of prostate cancer.
So I wrote a blog and introduced the idea of "The 30 Days of Movember - a Fitness Challenge."
My intent was purely selfish. My running group had disbanded earlier that year and I was struggling to keep a routine fitness plan.
So I concocted this crazy idea to create a Facebook Fitness Challenge group. 30 Days of Fitness.
An idea to share my fitness goals and hold myself accountable to 10 or so friends....
And those 30 days flew by.
And the group continued to grow. Friends inviting other friends. And new friendships being created.
As the final days of November were being crossed off the calendar, I asked if anyone wanted to continue into December. To my surprise, I received a very consistent message from my fellow Fitness Challenge participants - YES!
A December challenge was created as the number of members continued to grow.
7 months later and we are still going strong!
The group discusses personal challenges, personal accomplishments and frustrations.
Others struggled just as I did to stay motivated during the cold dark winter months. Together we set monthly goals, shared our New Year resolutions, and held each other accountable.
Together we accomplished what many of us could not accomplish alone.
Together we inspired one another.
Together we lost weight, planked, ran, hula hooped, shoveled snow, climbed stairs, drank more water, shared success stories, made each other laugh and cheered those up that became injured.
There is no pressure to post and no pressure period.
As you can see, it is a rather diverse group - many friends outside the page but many started out as strangers. A merging of several webs of friends. A web of support. A web of inspiration.
It takes a village.....and although this village was started for selfish reasons, it has filled a void that was evident in my fitness world.
All accomplished by a simple need to be held accountable and setting up a Facebook group.
No extravagant webpage design, no membership fees. Just a bunch of strangers and friends sharing their daily workouts, frustrations, and goals with one another, while lending support to those same strangers and friends.
Every now and again someone will disappear for a few weeks - myself included. No pressure from the members about your missing workouts. But occasionally someone will ask where you are - not to make you feel guilty but to make sure you are okay. A thoughtful caring group of individuals that I look forward to hearing from all day long!
Do you have a need to be motivated, inspired, held accountable? Consider joining our group.....or maybe creating your own!
And see firsthand what a group of individuals can accomplish together!
Individual commitment to a group effort - that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.
