Call me conceded, call me a narcissist, but I love my body. By body I am not referring to the outside physical appearance. Instead to me my body represents an engine. An engine that I am constantly tweaking and working to improve. I can say this was always the case. I must confess that for a time I was indeed consumed with the quest towards outwards physical appearance. As with anything that intrigues me, I throw my whole self into that world. As such I developed a love for weightlifting in College. I lifted all the time, and loved it. I loved how I held the proverbial sculptors chisel. I alone determined my size, my shape, my weight, etc..etc...This was all and good but it's just not me. It took me away from my friends, my family..it made me someone who I didn't like. Not that I was doing anything bad...quite the contrary, it has led me to a healthy diet and even led to some new friendships. It's just that that sort of thing isn't what I am about. What I truly love is being outdoors..engaging in all kinds of athletic endeavors. I was not created for short bursts of insane speed, instead I was built to endure. I was built, both in body and mind to outlast. That is why Triathlon appeals to me. It's not really about how fast you can swim a lap..its about how fast you can swim 100 laps...many things in both sport and life equalize over time...think about that the next time you feel your world crashing in upon you. Sure at the moment things go wrong it can look REALLY BAD, but give it some time, an overwhelming majority of the time, balance will be achieved. I believe that I am living proof of this. I was neither a saint nor a devil during my teenage years. I never went insanely nuts and I never was Mr perfect. However, this ended up providing balance in my life. I truly believe that if I had been on either spectrum of good vs bad that I would not be where I am today...at 23. At 23 I feel that I have achieved a level of knowledge that is allowing me to see my path much more clearly. By no means do I have 20/20 but I know can understand how I can someday get there. Life has taught me a few really important things..I am going to try and list them..(this is a working draft..as it always should be )
1. Do What you want to do!
If your not doing what makes you happy then you need to re-asses your decision making. Life is way to short to be unhappy. There are just to many options out there, don't box yourself in.
2. Be your own person!
Don't just try to fill in the box in regards to your personality. Be you and no one can hold that against you. Eventually you will fall into line with people that you mesh with..then you won't even feel weird..because you'll realize that your not weird, your just you. You were born a certain way and no one can take that away from you. For better or worse. Use the skill sets that you were build with. It's when someone finally discovers what they were made for when BIG THINGS can happen. I mean not every car is build for the same purpose..their mini-vans, sub compacts, sports cars, SUV's, dump trucks. Each serves their own purpose. Within each excellence can be found. Some people are lucky and they find out what they were built for at a young age. Some people find out later in life. In my opinion it doesnt really matter. You might say that well Matt..it would be better to start out young. But I would say to you..but even if your older and you discover your calling you are going to be just as driven, possibly even fresher than someone who has been on their path all along..so who knows maybe this could be a good thing
3. Remain tight with your family!
These are the people who will stand by your side no matter what. They love you for you and will do anything for you. Treat your family like gold. No matter what I know that when I see my family, I am going to feel welcomed. It does not matter how much time has passed since we last saw each other. Whenever we re-connect we go on as if we have seen each other every day. I did not have the opportunity to grow up with my brothers and sister since they were from my moms first marriage and are a lot older than me. However, growing up I was lucky enough to travel with my mom and see them wherever they were...I have had the opportunity to visit may countries and many places in the US because of this. I am extremely lucky! Its also must be said that whenever I have spent time with these half siblings I have been treated as if we grew up together. They truly love and care for me. They did not need to grow up with me to feel these things. They feel these things because we share a common bond...were blood..my mom is there mom, and my dad helped raise them. Idk, I just feel lucky that I know my family cares about me, they care about what I am doing. My parents constantly are making the trip to Rochester just to have dinner, or bring me something I left at home, or bring me medicine, or stopping to see me if I am sick, or coming to some race I am doing...My family is unconditional..I hope that everyone reading this feels the same way about their family. If you don't then I really would suggest making it a point to connect with your mom, dad, sisters, brothers..cousins...might just be me..but FAMILY is huge! Don't take them for granted.
4. Keep in touch with your close friends!
Friends make everyday life easier. Friends are my favorite drug. No matter how crappy or how tired I am, whenever I am around people who I consider my friends I get a high. I love being around my friends. I have developed some great friendships over the last 6 months. Friendships that I can honestly say are mutual. It couldn't be more exciting. With each passing day I am finding more and more things to do. I am seeing more and more paths opening up to me. I may not have a million friends, thats just not me..but the friends I do have really mean something to me. I would do anything for my friends. That's how much friendship means to me. It can be lonely living alone, I can attest to that. I work all day and workout and all this stuff and then I don't really have people to share that with. But that's begun to change, I know have developed friends who are into the same thing as I am. I know how a circle of people that I can talk with, hang out with, go mountain biking with, go road riding with, go running with...its amazing! I wouldn't trade them for all the tea in China. (Idk if China still has a lot of tea but back Im guessing they used to because thats a pretty old saying)
5. Find what makes you comfortable and strive to live in the comfort zone.
This goes along with the post I wrote earlier this week. If your living within your comfort zone...your inner circle if you will, you will not only achieve your own true potential but you will be helping those around you achieve your own true potential. Why? Because, if hang around people that make you feel good, that make you better, and those people keep coming back to hang out with you...then something has clicked...some universal connection has been made! Do not let this go! Together people achieve more. 2 is greater than 1. I will not guarantee that if you find a training partner in your discipline of choice that you will become faster just because. However at the same time I do believe that finding a training partner will makes you faster. Wait MATT! Didn't you just contradict yourself? Yep, I sure did. I say this because just by training with someone you might not get faster...I think that by training with someone you will develop a bond, something that makes you want to ride a little longer, a little harder. You may get up in the morning and get that extra workout in when you don't feel like it because you want to be accountable to your partner. Even when your not training with your partner on a certain day, you still want to hit your training goals so that they don't jump ahead of you. Thus, running with another person might not make you faster just because, it might make you faster because of the happiness you develop, the accountability you feel...those sort of things. So in a round about way..2 is greater than 1. Together everyone certainly achieves more. It's just finding the right people that's the hard part. Its like finding the damn center puzzle pieces that fit together...that's why you start on the edges...build your foundation, discover what drives you, what makes you, YOU!...then you can customize..then you deck yourself out.
With that said I also would like to note that going out of your comfort zone every once and a while is important too! As person we grow through adversity. We learn from mistakes. Trying new things can open up whole new worlds, whole new perspectives. So even though the ultimate goal is to be comfortable in your own skin, you need to make yourself uncomfortable every once in a while in order to maintain some type of balance..the yin and yang if you will...because I guess overall....How would you know if your truly comfortable if you never make yourself uncomfortable? Try that one on for size!
Getting back to why I love my engine. Because even though I or anyone else can buy all the gadgets, and latest technology there is...there is still no substitute for getting yourself into shape. Its the person on the bike that makes the bike fast...NEVER the other way around, unless you have an actual engine on the bike that is run by either battery or gasoline..but that doesn't count. Plus how cool is it to look unassuming at a race..not mr ripped or anything..but just kinda avg...and then go out in the race and kick ass! Flying under the radar...but flying a light speed...This has stopped me from wanting all the newest and coolest all the time. Obviously I am not a walking billboard for that statement since I have a couple top notch bikes IMO...but like do I really need a carbon fiber aero bar set? No..and how much more kick ass is it going to be if I pass someone that does...ok that's conceded but whatever its getting me out the door to ride again this afternoon.
Later peeps....
MjC
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