The Exceptions.

Mom, Dad, Sister, Brother, Cousin, Aunt, Uncle… everyone has some sort of title.  A title that is attached to a relationship they are naturally born into. 

But like some things, there are exceptions.

Exceptions for the people that mean so much more than these words and titles. You talk about them but can’t really seem to find the words you’re looking for.  We may find ourselves spending time and energy trying to puzzle more words together or find that perfect phrase to simply describe them. We even go to the extent of thinking that these words will express what they mean to us or how much we appreciate them.  Sadly, were often left empty handed because there are no words to sum it all up. Maybe it’s unfortunate that we can’t find these words, but maybe… just maybe… it’s a blessing we should be thankful for.  To have someone so exceptional that you are the only person that will ever truly feel their impact.

I have spent the past 21 years growing up, laughing, learning, and making memories with someone.  I have also spent these years finding new ways I appreciate them, cherish them, and when I talk about them … I am often trying to find that perfect sentence to sum up all they are to me.

I haven’t found that perfect phrase and I have come to terms I never will. 

I wont go into detail about our relationship, our experiences together or even how much she means to me. That blog would most likely turn into our inside jokes you wouldn’t understand, the fact that we think were hilarious, or the impact she’s had on me that no one else feels but me.  However, I will mention one of the biggest privileges I have had in life while growing up and that she has taken a significant part of. 

This privilege is… finding your people.

I often sit back and reflect on the impact individuals have had on my life.  I think about who I would be without these people, or the different experiences I have had with them.  I think about the laughs I would have missed out on if they weren’t around, or the lack of fun life would be if they weren’t so amazing.  However, when I recently had these thoughts it was the word “deployment” that kicked me to my butt with mixed emotions, juggled thoughts, reflection, and questioning.  

Deployment.

Something that I have zero control over.

Something that incorporates so much risk.

Something that takes truly special people to put themselves in this situation.

Something that will always make my mind unsettled.

Something that’s now going to be part of our relationship

Finding your people is amazing.  It’s having people that support you beyond means you ever thought possible. It’s having solid roots when you’re growing wild.  Its having people that remind you of who you are and what you are worth when you are completely lost in life. 

However, having people sometimes stings too.  It’s a state of being selfless and knowing that sometimes… they’re going to be set free, chasing a dream, completing a mission, or pursuing something different that you may have absolutely no say in.  In fact, you may serve as no part of the journey except to simply root for them the entire way.  You may not even know what it means to them, but you have faith that it’s what they need. You come to terms that those aspects of having “people” stings… but you wouldn’t have it any other way.    

I didn’t have to look hard to find one of my people.  Instead, I was blessed that she fell from the sky and landed as one of my family members. 

At the end of December she gets deployed to Iraq, and to say that I will miss her is an understatement but how selfish would it be for me to keep her here.  To hold her back from what she wants and a passion she is chasing with all her being. 

I will crave a hug, a laugh, and a random visit but to see an amazing person pursuing something that has been life changing for her… THAT alone, makes it all worth it. 

“Find your people”

These are people that have created an impact on us through lessons, laughs and memories that in the end no one will understand but ourselves.  You may find yourself talking to people, unable to express your feelings through words or expressing emotions that people will never be able to grasp but you.  However these are the aspects of life that should be cherished.  The aspects of life that words just cant seem to sum up.  No Pinterest quote, no title, and no Instagram filter can do it. Rather, it is a silent part of our life that only we will understand.  

It’s the chills you get when you see them accomplish something

It the smile you get when they send you a stupid text

It’s the racing heart you feel when you’re waiting for big news from them

It’s the tears you cry when they’re hurt, because deep down its hurting a part of you

It’s the weightlessness you feel when they hug you and you feel home

It’s the clear mind you have when you’re finally together and everything feels right. 

It’s the exceptions.

So there we have it.  Find your people – and hold them close.  Not because they may be taken away, but because they may be doing badass things you will only be able to root for from afar. 

With leaky eyes, and a knot in my throat I’ll end with this…

The best things in life aren’t things. They are the exceptions.  The things that can’t be expressed with words or titles, and are instead just meant to be … felt.

Gretch, this ones for you

Love you & Always rooting for you 

I am not lost - I am on my way.

I have beaten myself up time and time again with this idea of being “lost”.

Not the kind of lost where you are physically out of place, with no sense of direction.  The other kind.  The mental kind of lost.  The kind of lost that you’re just wandering around in your head, having no clue where you’re going or in some cases… what you’re doing.   

With all the opportunities that we’re constantly swarmed with; college degrees, masters degrees, doctorates, internships I believe we have been  a little brainwashed with this terrible idea that when we don’t have a distinct point A to point B direction we are defined as “lost”. 

I think I have been on a mission since I was younger.  A mission to see all the world has to offer, and be passionate in each experience.  I have always said “Yes” to new experiences and opportunities. In fact, I am known in my family for the line “What did I get myself into?”.  I have always wanted it all.  To see it, try it, and experience it. 

To jump in, and see where it takes me. I may be a little older but my mind is just as wild.

These opportunities have taken me to new places, introduced me to new people, given me new prospective, and have planted within me a desire to pursue new things.  I’ll admit, my mind is a little hard to keep up with. 

When I returned from California, after my summer job with CrossFit HQ, I met with an old friend to catch up over a couple beers.  What was meant to be “catching up”, quickly turned into “let’s question all Hannah has done”.  

I got asked things like “What are you running from?” or “Can you identify yourself? Do you know who you are?”.  They questioned why I keep running, and where I intended on going?  They asked if I was looking for myself because I’m not happy with who I am.  To them, it was just questions.  To me, it was insulting. 

My responses boiled down to a simple answer… it’s called curiosity and passion.  It has taken me all over! 

There is beauty in curiosity.

There is also risk and uncertainty in curiosity.  However, why is this a bad thing?  Think of everything around us.  We are rooted to question.   It is tied to our tradition of being a human. Think about it. We now know the earth is not flat, we know why objects fall and are drawn to each other, we know vaccines that can prevent life changing illnesses, and everyday we are making more discoveries that are changing life as we know it.  But how? 

Questioning. Passion. Curiosity.

Discoveries start because of the people that have imaginations that are taking them all over the world.  It is because people see an opportunity and run to it.  It is because people see a problem and are driven to seek an answer.  It is because of minds that do not sit still and are on a mission to create. Minds that are not afraid of being considered “lost”.

So, I believe this term “lost” should be given a different phrase.  Perhaps… “Passionately Curious” is a better representation of it. 

As I sat and was questioned about “running away” and “trying to find myself”, I couldn’t help but chuckle to myself.  Ya see, this isn’t running away.  It is a journey of  pursuing my curiosity and passion, and it involves a series of checks and balance. 

I know who I am which is why I am able to leave home to pursue a passion.  I know my values which is why I am able to surround myself with new people everyday, no matter how different they may be.  I know where I came from which is why I am always ready to grow through each experience.  It is because I know exactly who I am that I am taking on bigger opportunities and have always sought more in everything I do.  Because no matter what the opportunity may bring, it will always take me back to my roots of who I am while teaching me along the way. 

So sure, maybe I can not tell you a specific direction I am headed and hell, my personal compass must of broke because I don’t even know which way I am going sometimes but I know for certain who I am, and what I am about.

I am Hannah Chesley.  I am a whole 5 foot 2 inch body compacted of enough passion and curiosity to move mountains and I am not lost – I am simply on my way. 

The Ripple Effect

Positive or negative – I think people are often ignorant of the ripple effect they cause in a day.

In many of my blogs I talk on the small acts, the simple changes, and the basic behaviors that cause all the difference and this one will reflect those as well however, in a little different temper. 

I am a pretty content, laid back, and happy person.  Things roll off my back, I don’t dwell on past things, and I genuinely think the best of people.  However, a side of me that some may not see is when something (one of the few things) grinds my gears in all the wrong ways.  When I see/hear something that I find completely distasteful, disrespectful, and flat out self centered.  There are VERY few things that bother me, but when something does it makes me lose my filter and sets me off a bit. 

I had one of these moments today while studying at Starbucks.  For those who aren’t at Starbucks multiple times a week like this chick, Starbucks is clean.  It is a high end coffee shop, with employees that are most often extremely pleasant to interact with.  Individuals go to Starbucks for the quality and the experience – top notch. 

Today, while studying, there were two individuals sitting diagonally in front of me with a baby.  Naturally, the baby couldn’t chew so the two were breaking up a lemon loaf for her and setting it on the table in front of her.  This baby was LOVING it, frosting on the face, fingers, and even in the hair… again, naturally… it’s a baby.  However, the two with the baby were not little and although they seem to know how to take care of a child apparently they cant take care of their crumbs. 

When they finished up, the lady took her hand and swepted it across the table.  No napkin under the table with the other hand, nothing.  Now, I am not talking a few crumbs.  I am talking a babies mess of crumbs from an entire lemon loaf, swept all over the ground.  Immediately, I looked at the lady with an unpleasant look then looked down at the crumbs.  She looked me dead in the eye, shrugged and left.  Not even 30 seconds later a different lady came over and sat down at the table. 

This set me off.

RIPPLE EFFECT PEOPLE.

This, quite literally, was little crumbs making a huge difference.

To the lady who came in directly after them and had to sit over crumbs, that’s not Starbucks quality… that was quality of a selfish person.

To the employee who had to sweep it up after she left, that wasn’t suppose to be part of your day at work… you’re time should have been able to be spent elsewhere.

Think about the ripple effect.  Is what you’re doing going to cause a hurricane of good vibes, or a hurricane of bad vibes?  Is it influencing a day positively, or negatively?  Because even the smallest things you do, like sweeping your crumbs on the floor, is having a ripple effect on someone. 

We’re on a mission to change the world, but just maybe changing our own acts could, in fact, create the biggest change in the world.

The Perception of Inspiration

You are FAR more inspiring than you have ever perceived. I promise.  Let me explain…

I had the incredible privilege of going to the CrossFit Games this past summer, in Carson California.  To experience the CrossFit Games the way I did, as an employee, was truly an amazing experience that I am still on cloud 9 about.  Watching these athletes compete was incredible.  To see a human body reach the state they are at, and competing at such an intense level was… almost inhuman.  Their bodies had muscles I never even knew existed, they were moving weights I didn’t know a person could move, and they continued to compete all weekend through more fatigue then I have ever seen.  This was such an incredible thing to see with my own two eyes.  I give so much credit to these athletes and the commitment they give to get them where they are.  It takes immeasurable discipline with the food they eat, it takes huge expenses for supplements, gear and equipment, it takes a never failing mindset, and multiple training sessions, up to 8 hours a day of training to reach this level.  Admirable?  Yes. Realistic for all? No.

Many of us are in school full time, work a full time job, have families to care for, or expenses that have to go elsewhere.

When I packed up to go to the Games, I remember talking to my mom on the phone and saying “I feel like when I come back, all I am going to want to do is train train train”.  I was expecting to witness these athletes and return wanting to train so much, to get me to that level. I was a little taken off guard when I got back and my mind set was changed but in a completely different way. I got back and wanted to train (as always), but it wasn’t the Games that inspired me.

When I was there was when I realized, I didn’t need to see the highest level of CrossFit athletes in the world compete to get inspired.  All I have to do is simply walk into my CrossFit box everyday.  

THIS is where I am inspired.

Most people, when asked what the best part of CrossFit is, will respond “The people” or “The community”.  I could not agree more. 

When it comes to the aspect of the people or community, responses will vary person to person but mine is the inspiration they provide. 

Now, I am not taking anything away from the athletes training 8 hours a day to get to the CrossFit Games level.  This takes a special kind of person, and there is a reason you’re there and most are not. Rather, I am putting emphasis on what I find to be truly inspiring, which is what I see each day…

The parent at the CrossFit gym that just dropped their kids off at school and has an hour to spare before the next thing they need to do… filling the hour with fitness.

The injured athlete that can’t go past parallel in a squat but is still in the gym doing upper body work.

The people trying to lose weight and instead of starving themselves, are looking to improve their overall well being and become stronger.

The coach, that puts in significant time and energy to make the classes the best they can be, but also has to go home and provide dinner for the family.

The student athlete that’s putting all they have into practice but still has to go back and study for an exam after.

The person who HATES running, but is still at the gym doing the work out because… character.

The person whose running miles upon miles to fulfill a life goal of running a marathon whether they finish first or last.

These are the people that drive me each day. The people that hardly have time in their day but fill that small bit of time with fitness or the people who can’t afford supplements but will still work to choose healthy options to take care of their body.   

I walk into my CrossFit gym and take a good look around at everyone there.  Good day, bad day – busy day, slow day – able or rehabilitating – old or young, yet everyone is taking a part of their day to spend working on their health and wellness. 

I witness this on a daily bases.  Each day I walk into CrossFit 8035 in Des Moines, the members inspire me.  Each day I coach my fitness class at school, the students inspire me.  Each day I am in my apartment and one room mate is at rowing practice while the other is on a run, I am inspired. 

It is apparent each and everyday, but we never really consider that perhaps…

WE ARE THE INSPIRATION.

We are the ones that inspire others to get started on a healthy track, we are the ones that encourage people to go outside their comfort zones, we are the ones that keep them coming back. 

You may be looking up to the elite athletes, but there’s someone looking up to you.