An Athletes Inner Conflict With Lifestyle Changes

Here is the story about an Olympic level athlete who is training as usual for world competition, which they do all those years between the Olympic competitions. She can be of any event because that doesn’t matter in this story. They all must train diligently in focused sometimes-painful practice all of the time pushing and enduring to their maximum. They constantly check their improvement. Maintaining their health in every possible way is a must. They check their food nutrients and calorie intake constantly. They are pursuing excellence. They maintain positive relentless concentration and ruthless dedication that overcomes all obstacles that could stop them from becoming their very best. The best they can be at their chosen event.

So one day, actually it was a slow creeping process, she wakes out of bed and decides, ‘Hey, I think I’ll skip the workout and practice today. Maybe go out with my friends and relax. Maybe have some yummy junk food and have some fun like them. I’m in such good shape it won’t affect me very much.’ So she does this. All seems fine except for the tough day back at practice. It seems a bit tedious and her body lags a bit. The next week she decides, ‘I miss that fun I had last week. It didn’t put me out too much. I think I’ll cut practice to four a week. I have lots of time to work on it later. I think also my diet is a bit unrealistic and too rigid. It doesn’t need to be that way. I enjoyed eating that fun food. I’ll probably burn it off anyway. So she does this.

After a few weeks her practice is reduced because she is not getting stronger and her event doesn’t seem as thrilling.Well, it’s not long before her goals have changed. No longer is she near her personal best and definitely not world-class material.

As time continues to pass she has stopped competing. She likes to think back recalling her tremendous successes and in her secret thoughts she thinks of how great she still is, or might be. She begins to notice that when she stopped practicing her training to ‘enjoy life’ the way other people do, she had actually enjoyed her years and days before a whole lot more. She begins to see that after that year she actually stopped doing a lot of other things too. She had started to believe that ‘goals’ and ‘standards’ don’t mean that much anyway. Instead of trying to excel with small daily things and interests, it was now acceptable to do just whatever came up at the time

She looks back at those years now and doesn’t break into smile about how great and exciting it was. She simply pouts a half-smile, her eyes staring off, her insides clenching. I could never be that woman today she muses. But then again, I am still that person right now, inside. I am still an achiever and want too be my personal best. Aren’t I?

I might not live that way on the outside and maybe my health isn’t as good but that’s not me! I know and isn’t that all that matters? That stuff’s not so important for anything is it? She stops herself from dwelling any further. Those were glory days when every waking moment was fired by desire and challenge. In the real world of today it was much more complicated something always came up. There are usually choices along the way.