Melissa Ryan joined an unpaid group in an office despite friends calling her crazy. In four months she lost 20 pounds, changed her relationship with food, and found belonging. She calls it her "one-shot" not a single decision but a daily choice to show up for what she loves.
Hey guys, it's Mel. I'm here to tell you about my one-shot opportunity, or one of them. I think life is full of them. I had met a group of people who were extremely passionate about what they were doing. They were excited about their projects that they were working on. They all worked together in an office. At this particular point in my life, I was I was overweight by about 30 pounds. I was sad. I didn't have anything to do. So not necessarily unemployed, I just wasn't excited about anything I was doing. So I met these folks, was completely inspired, wanted to work with them. So I just started showing up every day. They had no money to pay me. It was the craziest thing I'd ever done. All my friends said I was crazy. They were like, you've lost your mind. You are working for no pay. You know, you're crazy. So I started showing up. There was very little talent that I had that pertained to anything these guys were doing. But I just showed up and started learning stuff. And I was willing to do anything. It was the scariest, craziest thing I'd ever done. So I thought initially that I might work my way into a job. I don't know if— I don't know if I really thought it through that much. But what I did find was a place to belong, a group of people who accepted me, who showed me a different way to live. They all loved their bodies and cared, cared for their bodies, I guess. They, they ate right, they exercised, they did all those things that I wasn't doing at the time. And it changed the way I thought about living, about how you operate your day-to-day life. So it was a lot more than just working on projects. It was Or learning new skills. It was learning a new way to live. And I— it was crazy. In the first 4 months, I lost 20 pounds and started to feel a lot better. Not just a lot better physically, but a lot better about myself. And for as long as I can remember, I'd had this crazy dysfunctional relationship with food and a distorted view of my body. So some of those things started to change for me, and just found a group of people that really loved me. And I think, I think the pivotal thing for me with the one-shot, or with the idea of the one-shot, was I just decided to show up, even though I was afraid. I had no idea what I was doing. Everyone was telling me I was crazy. I just decided. And it was a, it was a, it was a decisional thing, but it wasn't a one-time decision. It was a day in, day out, getting up and going. Well, I'm going to get up today and I'm going to see what today holds for me. I'm going to get up today and go and do what I can do and see how it turns out. And I think that is, you know, living in your one-shot moment or taking your one shot is, you know, making that decision over and over again to get after the thing that you're passionate about. I think the thing that characterized that particular time in my life or that series of decisions Was that I couldn't imagine not doing it. I couldn't imagine not showing up and working with this group of people. If I missed out on one day of what they were doing, I just thought that would be way too much to miss. I just couldn't imagine it. I couldn't— I was like, I have to be a part of this. I have to do this. So even though it's scary, even though it may be financially detrimental, I have to show up and do this. So that for me is one shot. So there it is. Thank you.
