WAYNE'S WORDS

September 20, 2004

Reading Time: 4 minutes

TOPIC: Where We Are

 

I like this cartoon. When I first saw it, it really hit home with me. It reminded me that where I am today isn't where I had planned to be at this point in my life. I'm not as desperate as the mouse. First of all I wouldn't waste all that beer and I'm not planning on leaving this universe. I'm not sure how old the mouse is, but one day, as you get older, you'll wake up and look at your life and wonder how the hell you got there.

When I was in high school, I wanted to be a rich bachelor architect. In college I wanted to be a teacher, married and live on 40 acres out in the country. In my 30's I wanted to be married with 2.5 kids, live in Columbia, and be a Physical Therapist. In my 40's I wanted to be single, move to Florida, and be a Personal Trainer. Now I want to finish my teaching career, move somewhere warm, be by the water, and be single, married, or something in-between.

It's good to have a life plan. To plan ahead for the next year, the next five, and to think about when the kids are gone, and the day you will retire. But I'll be the first to say, it never happens the way you mapped it out. People will come into your life that you just didn't plan on. People will leave your life just when you really needed them to be there for you. You'll get blindsided by an illness, disease, accidents, or some horrific event. You'll have incredibly good luck. You'll fall in love. You'll get married and then have a 51% chance of getting divorced. You'll live somewhere you never thought you would, in a life you never thought would happen. All in all, you do the best you can with what you've got at that time..... kinda like doing a race.

Before the race, you've got everything planned out. All your stuff in your tri-bag. The bike is ready, and you've remembered your goggles. Then you get to the race and that guy who always beats you shows up, or it starts to rain. You have a flat tire, or you wipe out on the bike. You have your best race of the year, or you miss hardware by one place. You go home determined to train harder, or you never want to race again. One thing racing can teach you about life is to be prepared, expect the unexpected; just hammer and do the best you can at that moment.... through the swim, through the bike, through the run.... and through life.

Vince Lombardi once said about football, but I'm willing to bet he also meant "it" to mean life: "It's not whether you get knocked down, it's whether you get up." So if your life hasn't progressed as you would have surmised, that's very normal, it happens to everyone, but, after you get knocked down, get up and just keep hammering.... the best you can.

Until next week, train smart and live right,

Wayne

whuckshold@yahoo.com