For the accolades, of course!
Just kidding, but since you mentioned it, we were just included in a list of “Top CrossFit Blogs” by FeedSpot, a website that tracks and consolidates blogs from all kinds of industries. We’re number 44! I know, super impressive number, but I took a pause to be grateful for that, gave myself a couple fistbumps, and then reflected on why I started this CrossFit Kent Island blog and why I like writing in the first place.
First of all, it’s for our community. I enjoy writing to you guys because it’s a way that I can consistently communicate what’s going on and how I’m feeling about it to our greater CFKI community. I know everyone that receives these weekly email messages. For some of you, I coach you on a daily/weekly basis live in a CrossFit class or on a personal basis. But for others, I might have “on-ramped” you but don’t see you very often. I like the chance to be able to reach out with my personal message and hope that you read it so that we can all stay connected as a community. It’s important for me to keep our CFKI culture strong and focused on positivity, hard work, personal growth, and service. That culture is what has kept us alive and growing as the years have gone by, and as I take more of a backseat and let our coaches coach while I focus more on the business side and bury myself in spreadsheets, I want to feel as though I still have a pulse on the community and that I’m making an impact with you personally.
Secondly, it’s for me. I feel that my purpose in life as a coach and a parent of two teenagers (wow!) has morphed into that of a teacher. And I love it – I think in a past life I was probably a high school biology teacher who spent weekends diving in the southern California coastline, exploring for new creatures (and hunting for sharks). And so now when I’m not coaching or writing, I spend my time reading. I read because I want to gain more knowledge and then pass it on to others. When I read, I think about how these authors write – their language, their persuasiveness, their tone. Then when I write these blog posts, I am flexing my writing muscles and trying to get better, trying to use what I have read to be more informed, and more persuasive, maybe even funnier? Writing on a daily basis in my journal or online is a way for me to keep practicing and keep getting closer to my purpose as a teacher.
I have been writing for 13 years now on the CFKI blog, and our first post is right here! You can see we started from humble beginnings – we didn’t even have a space yet! But I already KNEW that we would be successful if we could just keep getting one or two new members per month, and so I kept writing…
I hope you enjoy these blog posts as much as I enjoy writing them. Maybe I’ll keep it going!!
Ryan