Sports Fanatic

I’m a sports fanatic.

I say that because I like all of them. Or, most of them I should say. There’s just a few I can think of that I really don’t care for or watch at all.  Just a few, and I won’t name them because they’re probably important to some people, and that’s their thing, and I’m not that kinda’ girl.

Truthfully though, there’s a part of me that I think really, really wanted to be an athlete. To be good at some sport. To be a long distance runner or a sprinter, are the two specific sports I remember being curious about when I was in Junior High, but sadly, lacked any type of confidence to even try out. To even just go to the coach and see what I had to do, shyness stopped me every time. So, as I got older I decided I would try running. On and off I would add that into my workouts and it was awful, just godawful. But ya’ see, that tiny, underdeveloped, never appropriately nourished athlete inside me shouted out, “Hey, let’s see what people are talking about!! What’s this runners high about? I can catch a high from running? I’m in!”

So, I did, and finally got to a point where I felt what they were all talking about.  That, “I can’t wait to get my sneakers on” kind of feeling eventually does truly happen and will completely take you by surprise when it does.

This inner athlete has challenged me my whole life.  Most recently she set the challenge of  “50 push-ups by my 50th Birthday” and then even tried to throw in “and do it in 50 seconds” and I’m all like, “Ok, now that’s going too far!!!” (Hmmm, or is she?!) But, because that inner athlete is constantly looking for nourishment, trying to feel stronger and stronger as I get older and older, she’s just still in there egging me on.

But these little challenges I put myself through, they don’t compare to what true athletes do.

I’m amazed at the human anatomy and physiology. I’m amazed at the human spirit.   I’m amazed at the mental toughness athletes need to learn, build and retain and retain over long periods of time. I’m amazed at their drive, focus, dedication, commitment, confidence, belief in themselves, and will. I’m amazed at how they overcome their setbacks, injuries and defeats. Or, overcome their “slumps.” I’m amazed they keep going when it gets hard and they keep changing the game plan, as they keep upping their game, or trying to. I’m amazed at how they can remain as PRESENT as possible while remaining as flexible as possible with their ever changing, second by second, minute by minute, hour by hour competition. I’m amazed when I can see them struggle and then actually start to watch them, right before my very own eyes, their ability to “feel it, know it, fix it” and they turn the game around. I’m amazed at the will to stay steadfast after the injury that almost ended their career or what they do with the “headspace” if the injury does end their career.

It’s all very inspiring and intriguing to a girl like me. I’m all in on Athletes. I love every interview. I love hearing their story. Some having had to overcome rough childhoods, unexpected tragedies, disappointments, or being told by some authority figure that “they couldn’t or they would never be able to do” this or that.

And yet, they did.

They do.

Athletes, most athletes, absolutely believe in themselves. No matter what someone else says or thinks about them. Or, they found the coach that knew how to motivate, encourage and keep them inspired. They dig deep and fight to show us all what they were, and are made of, mentally and physically.  Sometimes it’s so obvious too, when you’re witnessing their God given gift, and they are lighting up the stadium, court, course, field, alley, racetrack showing us.

They believe in their teammates and coaches.

They have a team of people that believe in them too.

A team that pushes them and encourages them on the days they may not believe in themselves. A small village of hand picked people to help them be in the best condition to be able to compete at the level they do.

Doesn’t it sound familiar though? See how sports tie right into life?!

Don’t we all need a team of people helping us achieve our best?! We may not be professional athletes with all the help they have, but I hope we all have some type of “Team” that help us everyday too.

So many successful athletes had to overcome some type of adversity. And we, everyday people, we do too. We may use sports; the gym, yoga, karate, running, kickboxing, spinning, swimming, whatever it is, and sometimes without even knowing it maybe, to help pull us up, focus on, dive into, to get out of our own way. To clear our mind. To give the body a surge of some serious endorphins that can make us dig deep through discomfort and feel rejuvenated when completed.

Unstable homes, relationships, when all the odds were against them, us, when you’re tired and beaten down from how sometimes the day to day life can make us feel, but they overcame that and we did and continue to do that in our own lives too. They believed in themselves even when others didn’t or there was no one there to believe in them.

And we have too.

But the athletes, the elite athletes of the world, they usually have a pretty compelling story and I wonder if that’s what helps them overcome the loss. When the taste of victory was right there and then with a tenth of a second left on the play clock, “swoosh” the ball makes it through the net at the buzzer.

Two opposite emotions happening simultaneously.

Victory for some and Defeat for others.

But, to the athlete that was defeated, that may not be the hardest thing in their lives they had to overcome or found a way to live and cope with. And that, that right there, is what I think makes them able to come back. How they overcome the defeats and lead by example, showing us what it takes to be an athlete.

When I’m sitting on my couch, my eyes welled up with tears, (because like I said, I’m all in) watching the defeat, hearing myself say “How are they going to get over a loss like this one?! How are they not going to be on some sort of suicide watch?!”

They’re saying….

“It’s not over, it’s just over today. We’ll be back.” Almost scaring us with the fierceness of the threat. As if they’re promising us they’re going to show us they don’t give up so easily.

And so should we…..

In some ways, we are our own athletes in our own worlds. We have to overcome and endure the unexpected challenges in this “game” of life. Trying to stay present and flexible.

The things we learn from our inner athletes when we are sweating, sweating profusely, help us mentally outside of the activity.  The things we learn about ourselves as we try and lift the higher weight, sprint in the middle of the run,  do one more rep (or one more push-up) when we didn’t think we could.  All that, that all helps when it’s time to climb the stairs with all your groceries because you’re NOT making two trips.

All that, all that dedication and work, builds the body strong and the mind tough, just like an athletes.

So, go put your sneakers on.

Go get the high.

Go challenge yourself.

#findyourinnerathlete#sportsarelife

#flexiblemindflexiblebody#butwhatthehelldoiknow