Lately, I’ve been reminding myself what happens when people do hard things together: energy is transferable. 

But I’ve noticed it does more than move between people. In groups, it seems to grow.

For years, my alarm went off at 5:15 so I could make it to the 6:00 a.m. CrossFit class. Some mornings I coached, some mornings I trained with the class.

It was difficult at first, but the early mornings eventually became habit. Some days I showed up ready, awake, and talkative. I carried the energy in with me.

Other days I didn’t, but I’d pull into the parking lot and see people already waiting outside the door. Smiling, stomping their feet to stay warm, and ready to work. Genuinely happy to see me.

On the mornings I had nothing, I took a little of what they brought. On my good days someone else took it from me. That exchange was constant and I started to expect it, and even rely on it. 

What surprised me was that it didn’t feel like a zero-sum trade. One person’s effort didn’t always drain them so others could benefit. It seemed to raise the energy of the whole room.

I knew how getting into that group would make me feel, and I wanted to be part of it. When I wanted to slow down or quit, I’d see someone else soldiering on and get inspired to follow suit. I worked harder with people than I ever would have alone – and I was always glad I did.

Organizing anything with people is inconvenient. Schedules don’t line up. Abilities vary. Someone is always faster, slower, more nervous, more confident, more distracted. 

Groups mean compromise. Plans bend and expectations need managing. And if you’re the one coordinating, it can feel like all logistics and emotional labor with very little payoff.

It’s fair to wonder if it’s worth it.

But something changes when effort becomes shared instead of private.

Discomfort stops being something you endure alone and becomes something you step into together. The work doesn’t get easier, but it feels lighter…not because it weighs less, but because it’s distributed.

And sometimes it feels lighter because the effort of one person lifts the capacity of everyone else.

Someone carries the pace. Someone carries the mood. Someone carries the belief that this is survivable. It rotates, and the whole group rises.

Our weekly hour-and-a-half ruck is easy to be inspired for on a warm day with the sun out. That’s just a nice walk with weight.

In January, at minus thirty, in the dark, it’s a different decision. If I were going alone, it would feel heavy, cold, and easy to postpone.

With our group, it becomes the plan. The energy of the group makes the hard thing feel normal. The dread shifts into something closer to anticipation. Not because the conditions improve, but because the energy does. 

You show up because other people are showing up. What would feel like suffering alone turns into something closer to an experience. You get out in the fresh air, move, enjoy the company, then go for coffee. Worth it.

That same amplification shows up in other places too.

I’ve been the one to organize a mountain bike ride for my girlfriends. I pick the route and rally everyone out there.

When we get to a technical section – a steep roller, a drop, or skinny – my mojo can disappear. It might not have come back if someone else hadn’t gone first. 

Watching another person commit, roll in, disappear over the edge, come out the other side can tip the balance. Not because it suddenly looked easy, but because it looked possible. Their decision doesn’t just help me, it changes what feels possible for everyone standing there.

A minute earlier, I was the one providing the push. Now I was the one borrowing it.

Confidence grows differently in groups. Not only from achievement, but from proximity. From standing near people who have already moved through something uncertain. You absorb their calm, their timing, and their belief that you’ll figure it out.

Collective struggle does more than improve fitness: it builds tolerance for discomfort, a willingness to stay in things longer than planned, and a belief that even if this is hard, it’s workable. You lend strength, then you borrow it. Sometimes in the same hour.

This isn’t about efficiency. People slow things down. They complicate the plan. But they can also multiply the energy in ways you can’t create alone.

When motivation dips, the group carries it. When doubt creeps in, someone steadies the line. When momentum fades, it reappears from another direction.

You don’t just move forward together. You keep each other moving.

To go far, go together. Not because it’s easy. But because shared effort creates a kind of energy you can’t generate alone.

“It may be true that he travels farthest who travels alone; but the goal thus reached is not worth reaching.”

— Theodore Roosevelt

With you in it,
Amanda