Finding My People: How CrossFit Became My Constant

I was 25 years old, living in Southern California, coaching tennis, and figuring out life like so many of us do in our mid-twenties—through a mix of trial, error, and unexpected adventures. One day, my situationship/friend said, “Hey, I’m doing this workout, it’s called CrossFit.”

I had no idea what that meant, but I was game.

So we started doing WODs (Workouts of the Day) in the high school weight room—piecing together what we could, learning as we went. I spent hours watching videos of lifts, failing double-unders so spectacularly that my arms were covered in lash marks from the jump rope, and loving every second of it. There was something about pushing past my limits that hooked me—the exhaustion, the sweat, the feeling of accomplishment when I was done.

Then, that situation ended. The way situations do.

But CrossFit? That stuck.

For the Gains… Then for the Sanity

When I started CrossFit, I was in it for the gains. The PRs, the heavy lifts, the aesthetics. I wanted to be strong, lean, powerful—to see the numbers go up, to lift more, to push harder. It was all about progressing physically, chasing the next milestone.

And don’t get me wrong—I still love a good PR. I still love feeling strong. But somewhere along the way, the “why” changed.

Now, CrossFit is about mental health.

It’s about stress relief, clarity, and having a space where I can let go of everything else and just move. It’s about showing up because I know I’ll feel better when I do.

It’s also about never having to “get back into shape”—because I never left. I never have to start over, never have to rebuild from zero, because movement has become a constant in my life. That is something I’ll never take for granted.

The First Box & The First Real Test

After that, I found my first official CrossFit box and started going to classes. It was a whole new level of discomfort—new people, new challenges, new skills that I wasn’t naturally good at. And I loved it. Every single day, I looked forward to being uncomfortable.

When I moved to LA, the first thing I did wasn’t find an apartment—it was find a CrossFit gym. My apartment came second, conveniently up the street from my new box.

When I moved to Idaho, same thing—find the box, find the people.

When I moved to Vermont, same thing.

No matter where I went, CrossFit was my anchor. It wasn’t just about the workouts. It was about the community, the routine, the shared struggle that bonds strangers into friends. It was knowing that no matter how alone or out of place I felt in a new city, there was always a group of people who would push, support, and suffer right alongside me.

Community in the Chaos

I love the community that CrossFit creates. I love that I can walk into a gym in any state, any city, and know that within an hour, I’ll have cheered for someone and been cheered for myself. I love the high-fives, the unspoken respect of shared hard work, the way struggle brings people together.

I don’t, however, support everything about the current state of CrossFit as an organization. The way they handled the death of an athlete at last year’s Games was unacceptable. The way they treat some of their athletes, their silence on issues that matter—it’s hard to reconcile. But what CrossFit HQ does is separate from what CrossFit, as a community, has given me.

The reality is, group fitness changed my life. It helped me find belonging every time I had to start over. When I was struggling to feel connected, all I needed to do was show up, join a class, and move. That’s where I’d find my people.

Now, I Teach

I’ve taken that love for connection, movement, and shared struggle and channeled it into something new: coaching.

Now, as a CrossFit Level 1 instructor, I get to teach once a week, helping others find that same sense of challenge, strength, and camaraderie that has meant so much to me. It’s a different kind of joy—watching someone struggle through their first pull-up, seeing them light up when they hit a PR, reminding them that they are capable of more than they think.

Because that’s what CrossFit has always been for me—a reminder that I can do hard things, that I am stronger than I realize, and that no matter where I go, I’ll always have a place.

What’s Your Anchor?

For me, it’s CrossFit. For you, maybe it’s running, yoga, cycling, hiking, or something else entirely. Whatever it is—hold onto it. Hold onto the things that ground you when life feels messy, the things that make you feel strong when everything else feels uncertain.

And if you’re ever feeling lost, struggling to find community?

Walk into a class. Join in. Move.

You just might find your people.

#TheGRLInitiative #FindYourPeople #StrengthInCommunity #CrossFit #MovementIsConnection