Are you an Olympian of LOVE?
By Kavita Patel. Posted on .
The Olympics start tomorrow, and I can’t wait! I am jumping out of my skin with excitement for the opening ceremony.
I was watching Oprah’s Next Chapter last Sunday, where she salutes Super Star Olympians. One of my favorite interviews was with Carl Lewis who is a former track athlete and has won 10 Olympic medals. Holy shit! Yes 10, nine of which were gold.
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He said something so profound that I HAD to share it with all of you. I was inspired.
He said, “I was never afraid to lose.” He then proceeded to use a phrase that I have used to achieve more (under pressure), and he used to achieve excellence over and over again. He said, “People don’t remember if you were in 7th place, they remember when you are 1st. So, let it go. I wasn’t afraid to lose or afraid to try something different.”
My AHA moment there was that I would use that same exact phrase of “No one remembers if you were last”, as a way for me to place pressure on myself to be first. Throughout my childhood I would then be terrified of being the best, because that would mean more pressure to not lose. Yet, what I translated Carl’s words to mean is to not care about losing- try new ways, be different, go for it, allow your focus to be on winning and not on making sure you don’t lose.
That is big for me to hear. In the last several years, I have been playing the game of life differently, and I couldn’t quite explain why, until Carl (yes we are on a first name basis) said what he said to Oprah.
The Olympics haven’t even started and I get teary-eyed just watching clips of Olympians standing on those pedestals receiving their medals. They awe me. These athletes have dedicated their entire lives to being the best in their sport, and invested EVERYTHING in order to perfect their talent. It is absolutely inspiring.
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Too many of us are okay with mediocrity, and it tears me up inside when I see that. Too many people believe, “Why try harder when you are okay with where you are at?”. Well, I thought that I agreed with that at one point, and then something in my gut tugged at me, and tugged at me HARD. We were not given this life, every breath, the love, and the support, to live life just getting by. This is your chance to be BOLD, BE different, MAKE an impact.
I have to admit, as soon as I committed myself to MY LIFE and LOVE, everything changed. I wasn’t approaching my relationships being ALL IN. I would use reasons like ”My best friend didn’t call me back” or “My husband didn’t do what I asked him to” to have one foot in and one foot out the door. There are so many ways we keep ourselves from being ALL IN with love. However, once I jumped fully into my relationships, my confidence flew through the roof. I believed in me, and I was happier. Aren’t we all just striving to be happier?
