Thursday, March 31, 2016

Bidding Girltrek goodbye

Those of you that follow this blog know my history with Girltrek. For those that don't I'll give you the abridged version.
I can't remember what i was searching for on the internet but i came across this video of a young woman giving a testimony about her health. I became interested enough to find out more about  Girltrek and signed up for their email list.
After some time I had GT emails dated two and three years back that i had not opened. Oh sure i would open some but i have always been notorious for having
a backlogged inbox. They were on the back burner for a few years as i was involved with a local running club and discoving the joy of long distance biking but after a move left me with no group to workout with i started opening those old emails.  Inspired by what i read i officially decided i wanted to do more.
I signed up as a group actually it was only mom and myself. When she could not go i turned to the streets and became a supermarket gangster.
Yes i said it,  i would strike up conversations in the aisles to get folks to walk with me. Id introduce myself with my birth name and not the company name from the internet as people tend to like it more as to distance any impression i was trying to sell them something. It worked i had regular group walks with rotating cast members for awhile but the body count slacked off.
I just wasn't reaching anyone serious about a walking routine then i discovered marathons.
I found groups to train with and it meant i was not able to spend as much time growing my group. I tried recruiting at churches to get them to start their own groups but folk weren't interested and everyone had an excuse so i gave up it was officially me time.
So in 2015 around late January  i decided to commemorate the Selma to Montgomery walk for voting rights. There was only one tough decision i needed to make.
I mulled over wether i should do the Birmingham half or the Auburn half marathon on Saturday before heading to Selma on Sunday with Girltrek.
Long story short i had some issues come up in my schedule and then i learned the girltrek leg wouldnt have worked for me anyway,so  i stayed home. That turned out to be one of the best decisions I have ever made.
Often when we talk about what should be done within our own communities but it isnt until after we travel to other places to be part of something bigger that the realization kicks in that the journey should start at home.
A good thing the best ideas spring from grassroots movements started in neighborhoods and then spread national. So i made the fifty four miles from Selma journey  all about my neck of the woods and
it was powerful. Wasn't that's what GirlTrek was about doing things in our community. Yep a revolution of empowering self and strengthening community. My experience turned out awesome but my girltrek enthusiasm waned.
Im so proud of Vanessa and Morgan growing a movement. I've watched the two woman office become a team and even better one that the white house took notice of. Yet i came to the decision that it wasn't for me, i needed a connection to feel at least a part of something. I'm outspoken and often wondered where my brand of lets do this fit in. I fly solo all the time but came to the conclusion that's not the experience i wanted from girltrek. I have never been a group leader I'm an adventurer. I like to got out and map paths and recount the the tale and along the way i will stand up and say my piece. I like to uplift and inspire but somehow out the box and group dynamics aren't me oh the not so contridictions.
Which brings me back to leaving
It takes time to raise an organization and i see my sisters moving methodically in that direction. I hope they work on connecting groups within states. Its nothing more powerful than going down the road to the next town and helping sisters get their thing going. We've done that all along in the black community, it's a woman thing. Once I was surprised to open an email and see a huge gathering of women in a new group a little over an hour from me. I would have gladly gone to support them but it was not even mentioned. I told myself they aren't there and they still have growing pains but i still got their back. Not long after that i opened another email to find a sister from one of the southern groups was joining the national team. She did wonderful things in her town talk about a great choice, i continue to be inspired by the direction these ladies are taking.
However today God has other work for me to do. Although i fought it for a long time my desires are now in sync with the path I'm supposed to take. My part of building a better healthy community of mind, body and soul is just beginning.  I cheerish my time with Girltrek but Ive got to go. Its not enough to plant a seed and tend the crop i need to build a network. The thing about reaching out is one must touch all the demographics. Come young and old, active and Sadat.
In closing i would say find your strength to take on the task you were sent to this world to do,  no project is to small or unworthy. Don't confuse your calling with others journey by lurking in their movements. We are our sisters keepers and as women we can be supportive of each others work and become successful because of it. My super hero sisters are out there in the heart of their villages putting in the work and thats what its all about. Through the girltrek experience i discovered i didn't need to start a group, i just had to do me.

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