When initially setting out to accomplish a goal of life It is easy to do everything right. You set up a game plan. Schedule times, dates, and resources. Everyone has goals in life, things they desire to accomplish. Some harder some easier. But all life goals can be accomplished.
The problems usually don’t hit you at the start. In fact they usually come in stages. A very difficult goal of my life I accomplished recently was competing in a Triathlon. I had no illusions of grandeur and new I would not be competitively ranked. But starting off I could not even swim so just completing it would be my goal 1.
Set up was easy. I found a great group of girls with the same goal and willing to support each other, no matter our current fitness level or skill level. They started training before me since I had just had my first child and needed to wait six weeks to heal.
Six weeks behind and absolutely no swimming skills. I jumped in the water with my friends and began training. It was difficult at first. I felt so far behind as they worked on increasing laps and I worked on putting my face in the water.
We rode our bikes and ran occasionally. Swimming every day I just knew I would reach my goal 1. That’s when reality set in. It was 2 weeks away and going to be a 400 meter open swim and I hadn’t even put together a lap without stopping.
My heart sunk as I felt I had already failed in completing my goal. The crazy thing was my friend and fellow athlete Cece kept encouraging me and telling me I could do it! For some reason I believed her. I guess it was faith, her ingenious safety rashgaurd, or perhaps my own inner determination.
But I realized that reality was what I made it. There are no predetermined rules that say if you cannot swim a lap today, you won’t be able to swim 8 next week. So I pressed on. The crazy part…exactly two days before the meet I connected 8 laps 400meters! I was ecstatic! My progress was tremendous. I knew I could do the triathlon! This goal of life was on its way to being completed.
Saturday was race day! Nervous were running up and down my spine. I kept looking at that water. A battle of fear great fear, and determination was raging inside my head.
The time for my heat came and about 50 twenty something’s headed out into the murky lake. We had to tread water for about 3 minutes before the whistle blew. At this moment the war cries of fear were monstrously loud in my head. There was lake grass everywhere and I was having a hard time staying afloat. Not to mention every time I found a clear spot five other competitive girls were vying for it.
I looked back at the ground with longing eyes….but I had come so far to quit now. You know I just might have, but luckily the whistle blew and it was swim or be trampled. I wasn’t confident enough in my ability to start strong with the front of the pack and tried to ease my way to the back. That was actually increasingly difficult. Nonetheless I pressed onward.
Keep on swimming, keep on swimming…..keep on swimming I said to myself and you know that first orange buoy marking 1/3 of the swim was soon in front of me. (This is where short term….very short term goals are initiated!) I can do this I thought and began towards buoy #2. I was finally regaining my confidence just meters from buoy #2 when suddenly there was a mass of hard core 30 something men right on top of me! I went under. I was about to panic when that spirit inside me.
That human spirit inside us all spoke, “you can do it! you are more than half way just give it your all!” I kicked it in. I could swim! No one could tell me I couldn’t or make me not. I began swimming right alongside those superior male athletes and to my surprise ran into the back foot of one as I began to over take him.
This startled me and knocked me out of my groove. I went under again and this time when I came up I was right next to the safety canoe. She could pluck me out of this chaos and save me. “Are you alright,” she asked? “Do you want out?”
I looked at here in disbelief. Here was my chance at not drowning, and yet what she was really offering me was failure! After all I hadn’t even pulled my safety guard.
“No I am fine,” I said with assurance I didn’t even know I had. I completed that leg of the triathlon. Swam to the end. Dragging my tired body up onto my feet and towards my bike. After all I wasn’t done; far from it!…
I will continue with my story tomorrow, I just want you to take this time and this day to think about your goals of life…Are you facing demons as you reach out to achieve them? Is the Demon yourself? Some outside unaccounted for factor like lake grass? Or all those around you who’s competitive drive might be pushing you under?
I will admit while I am well practiced in setting and achieving goals this one was definitely the hardest. My very life was on the line literally. And I was scared for it. It is because of this that I am so capable of relating to struggles with any goal and love to help people overcome them.
So leave a comment, send me an email. And I will see you tomorrow with leg 2 of my triathlon goal!
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