“I’ve literally tried everything, and I think CrossFit is the one community that is really inclusive. They always say you are who you hang out with. I am so proud to say that I’m a CrossFitter.”
Since graduating from Michigan State University in 2010, Emily Pawlak felt alone.
“I had a whole bunch of friends at school, but when I moved home I felt really isolated,” she says. “I didn’t really have a support network.”
Post-university life was dismal. In college, friends surrounded her. Now, she had only her parents for company.
Her new job wasn’t much better.
“When I started my internship, all of my ideas were always rejected. I felt really beaten down to the point where I just wanted to give up,” she says.
Co-workers excluded her from their daily conversations because of her appearance — the tall, skinny girl who weighed less than 120 pounds.
“They’d all sit around and talk about dieting and I couldn’t participate without being considered obnoxious,” she says. “I was miserable. It felt like a deserted island.”
One day, her college friends suggested she give CrossFit a try. Since she had nothing to lose, Pawlek decided to visit Stay Strong CrossFit in Troy, Mich.
Her first workout was grueling. It consisted of a 5K row, a 5K run and 100 burpees.
“I was terrified,” she says.
Around 50 minutes later, as she jogged the final leg of the run, she expected she’d return to an empty gym.
“But much to my surprise, while I was doing burpees like my life depended on it, the rest of the class was cheering me on,” she recalls. “It was fantastic.”
After the workout was done, she had a weird mix of feelings — she wanted to hurl and come back and do it again.
“Everyone was so nice and welcoming, which was a huge shock from what I was used to, which was people walking by and not acknowledging me,” she explains.
Over time, her coaches and friends at Stay Strong CrossFit helped pry her out of her shell.
“I was shy and didn’t like talking to people unless I knew them, so they would push me into situations where I didn’t feel comfortable so I’d learn to talk to people by myself,” she says. “They really helped me build my confidence and taught me things like being persistent and taking constructive criticism without getting emotional.”
After two years of CrossFit, Pawlak can now do a real push-up and climb a rope. She even landed a better job by describing Helen in an interview to illustrate her work ethic.
But her most meaningful gain was getting off the deserted island and finding her tribe.
“I’ve literally tried everything, and I think CrossFit is the one community that is really inclusive,” she says. “They always say you are who you hang out with. I am so proud to say that I’m a CrossFitter.”
