2020 can be looked at as a Shit year!

But was it all bad?

When we reflect, which we need to do on all things in life.

It wasn’t all bad.

But I’m not going to lie to you and say it was all rosy here. Even though we didn’t have it as bad a some. Many things angered me, and many still do.

My thorn (in our nightly family rose, bud, thorn) 90+ % of the time was related to covid and how it is being managed, the grossly overrated fear I see in people and what seems like the erosion of free speech or the allowance of an opposing opinion and liberties.

The division I see in people is saddening and why I have removed myself from Facebook and maybe my Instagram will see the same fate.

In fact, if we are honest with ourselves. Social media is distracting. It distracts us from getting meaningful work done and we lose out on meaningful REAL connection with people. I see more negative psychological impacts than positive.

However, I regress.

If we are going to prevail we have to have a growth mindset. We have to focus in on the good. And those are our Roses (what good happened today) and our Buds (what do I have to look forward to).

Roses in 2020.

• We got more quality family time.
• We got to shift our sights from races to adventures and challenges.
• We got MORE time to prepare for our races.
• We got time to fix nagging niggles.
• We did stuff we had been putting off and it created positive change.
• We learnt what and who really matters.
• Many got to see that they could work from home. Giving them more time. What a gift!

We got opportunities to persevere. What choice did we have?

Resilience doesn’t come from things being easy.

A favourite quote of mine. One that is even framed is “the world-class are comfortable being uncomfortable”.

And I can tell you. Developing resilience goes a long way towards your success.

In anything in life.

For those of us that didn’t get to race (if you did, no matter the outcome you should be grateful of that opportunity), we learnt that there are things absolutely worth pursuing without races.

Life living the best life we can.

And to do that we need to focus on our lifestyles, our nutrition and our training.

Reflecting will let us see if our lifestyle, nutrition and training habits are improving our wellbeing or not.

“While I’m alive, I intend to LIVE”

And I feel to truly live, we must choose the uncomfortable path to excellence.

One of those paths was and still is, staying the course. That is still training with that end goal in mind.

Because one thing I can guarantee is that if you’ve stayed the course through 2020, you’ll be in a much better position to crush racing when it returns.

And if you didn’t? Make peace with that and start following that path today. It’s something that is 100% within your control.

Staying the course is not just in your training. It’s choosing all those little lifestyle habits that you know are better for you. It’s 90% of the time choosing great nutrition even when you don’t feel like it.

Staying the course builds mental fortitude.

2020 gave me many opportunities to build upon my own mental fortitude with some daunting but my kinda type two fun challenges and adventures.

And while all that was good.

One of the best things covid has delivered is my all-time favourite training partner known as the smiling assassin, back on her path of athletic excellence.

Since our son was born, Charlotte has dealt with issues that I absolutely believe are related to the emergency c-section.

Charlotte has spent innumerable hours rolling, doing the physio work and her lower back and upper hammy continued to be show stoppers and confidence destroyers.

Covid came along and as our athletes know. We did multiple fitness challenges early on, focusing on strength.

Basic strength training (that at first was intimidating for her due to the niggles) was the game-changer that was needed.

The cheeky smile I see while doing strides. That spark of competitiveness (even in the joking around) makes my heart sing.

And you want to know what a bud of mine is?

I look forward to being humbled.

In fact, I’m excited about it and it’s only a matter of time.

Simply because I know Charlotte will stay the course with the things that have been the game changers to getting back.

Will you?

As we enter 2021, still full of unknowns.

The one thing we do know is this.

We own this.

And by that I mean. We own our results. All of them.

We are the captains of our own ships.

Everything you need to be great IS already inside you.

So, what’s stopping you?

Stop listening to the naysayers. Stop listening to that voice inside your head that’s been conditioned by the naysayers.

Forget the two most damaging words in our language.

I Can’t… remove them from your vocabulary (you can thank me later).

Decide. Commit. Act. Succeed. Repeat.

It’s that simple.

Just DECIDE.

And as I recently wrote in one of my athlete’s post-activity comments.

Then Commit to that decision. You build self-confidence by KEEPING your commitment to yourself.

Act. Simply do what you’ve decided and committed to.

Succeed. It will happen when you give it the time it deserves.

Repeat. because it works. As long as you work it. Remember YOU own this.

2021… it’s our oyster. We just have to commit to our own excellence.

And that is what #alergictoaverage IS all about.