As I write this, the Olympics are well underway. Love or hate them, they do make you look at what humans are capable of and wonder….could I do that?
Well, I think that. I mean, those ice dancers seem to flow so effortlessly. And come on, how fast are those skiers going yet they still do those jumps. When the cross-country skiers glide downhill, I can do that. How hard can curling really be? Just because I have never tried most of the things they do, somehow that makes them look so easy. Doesn’t it?
They make it look easy because they have been doing it for years. I mean years and years. Once in a while, you hear about someone who just picked their particular sport, but that has been after years of being a dedicated athlete in another sport.
These people make their particular sport look easy because they are the best in their sport. They don’t just send anyone to the Olympics.
There are training camps and so many qualifying events that we don’t hear much of. Then, we get spoiled with every sport possible having the opportunity to be seen by all sorts of people.
Back in the day, if you had a sports day at school, you and maybe Mom, were the only ones to see it. Now, you have preschool Olympics on the internet simply because somebody took the time to record it.
So, if we are overwhelmed with sports, why are we not ALL athletes? I think there are a few reasons.
- 1 We actually see too much and we lose interest. With both tv and the internet with the ability to show you anything possible, we just get overwhelmed and lose interest.
- 2 We spend so much time watching sport, we don’t take the time to DO sport. Watching the best at something is intoxicating and we get caught up watching somebody else’s life instead of having our own.
- 3 When we see perfection in the form of Olympic athletes, we look at ourselves and feel more like a failure before we even start.
The whole idea of the Olympics is to show you what the human being is capable of and to do it in a sense of international community. The original reasons no longer exist and that is ok. We don’t feed people to lions in a stadium either, some things are ok to progress past their original intention.
But, here we are, witnessing the greatest athletes on the planet, we should do something with all this. The best thing to take away from the whole Olympics events is that we are capable of so many different things, we just need to pick one. It really doesn’t matter if you snowboard down a halfpipe, play hockey, slide in a luge, bobsleigh, or skeleton, skate really fast in a circle, cross-country ski then targets shoot, or curl a heavy stone into a perfect placement. You can do it alone, as a pair, or as part of a team. The details are up to you, you just try something, anything, NOW.
Don’t just let these amazing athletes become stories you watch and share, it’s time to make your own stories. Find something that speaks to you and just try. I can guarantee that you will look funny. You will probably hurt. It will feel awkward. You will need to do it regularly for weeks, maybe months possibly years. BUT, you will get better, you may even enjoy it. You will definitely have a totally new perspective. Doing something is way different than watching. The key is to do, not just watch.
So, make this your year to try something new and do it with the dedication of an olympian.
The Olympics are a wonderful metaphor for world cooperation, the kind of international competition that's wholesome and healthy, an interplay between countries that represents the best in all of us.- John Williams
