Chasing Peace

August 6, 2017

At one point in my life, the high was the chase. From the time that I was 7 years old, I had always admired Olympians. I told my mother, “Mom, I am an Olympian. I want to be an Olympian”. It is curious, really, how our child can continue to dream up of any thought or idea and go after it. What happens to us as adults? We get into a routine, do all of the things that we think we are supposed to do based on modern society, and then we get old. Right now, I am writing this as a 27 year old female, who still follows that childhood dream. Right at the moment, I am struggling.

About 12 weeks ago, I finished my first National level weightlifting competition. For two years, straight, I competed. I refused to let my mind go until I reached level one, which for me was senior nationals. My body had taken quite the beating, but I loved every second of the challenge. After the meet, I moved myself into a new training protocol, which went well for awhile, and then I irritated my back during a back squat, so I took some more time off. Physically, I needed more time before I pushed again and that was hard for me. Once again, needing to let my mind go and allow myself to relax.

As an athlete, the idea of “relaxing” is one that I struggle with, a lot. I LOVE competition. I LOVE training. I will train until I can’t anymore. Why? Because, I can. People ask me what I do for fun, and I say “lifting”. Generally, the response is, “No, like what do you do for fun? Like on a Friday night?” Again, I answer, “Lifting, lifting is what I do for fun. I travel and lift. Then, I eat. That is fun to me” Finding peace, has also become fun to me.

Recently, I read a quote that mentioned that true happiness is present when there is peace. That resonated with me quite well. It is true. When we are children, we are always seeking excitement. I am not too sure of any small children that are specifically seeking peace, but I could be wrong. Let me know if you find one. As I grow into my adult life and I have had some time off from being in a hardcore athlete mental state, the idea of chasing peace has been one that my heart and spirit have resonated with. Of course, we all love a little excitement, and I still do. The interesting thing is how excitement and peacefulness connect. I become happy when I am peaceful, and that excites me, to find peace.

Today, I took a walk with my dog, left my phone at home, and enjoyed the sound of nature. It is truly amazing, what we miss out on when we are constantly buried in social media, the internet, and whatever other crap is out there. Most of it, is completely irrelevant, useless, and is not beneficial for the mind whatsoever. I have been very focused on chasing peace in my life, and I am connecting this back with my athlete state. I now believe and have begun to understand how it is the most peaceful, athlete, in heart, mind, and spirit, has the most successful performance, embodied. This does not mean that the athlete isn’t excited, because by all means, the athlete is probably having a ton of fun if he or she loves it! Peaceful, however, is a state in which all things work well together. Chasing peace is where the performance, begins. A peaceful heart, leads to happiness, and that is, exciting.

Be Strong and Be Superfly, always,