I am an athlete.
This might amuse some of you or make you scratch your head…it
definitely has had that effect on me whenever someone has described me this
way. “But I don’t play a sport and I’m not training for any competition and the
ones I have are only temporary things.” I didn’t realize that’s not what makes
an athlete. I know when my personal trainer Chris reads this he’s either going
to want to roll his eyes or smile in amazement that I FINALLY get it! (I’m
guessing the latter because of the awesome support he’s always given me and
time to figure things out on my own). However, I’M rolling my eyes because it
has taken me so long to get to this place where I (think) I can say “I am an
athlete.”
How am I an athlete when I don’t play sports and I’m not
training for a competition?
Because of my mindset and dedication.
I don’t work-out because
I feel that I should. I don’t drag myself out of bed to go to the gym and then
just do the motions. I LOVE working out. I LOVE feeling strong and making
gains. I love knowing how much weight I’m lifting and comparing it to what I was doing and keeping track of my
improvements (and honestly comparing it to others’). I take that shit pretty
seriously! I strive to be better (almost) every single time and honestly thrive
on that feeling. I don’t skip workouts—I skip life to make sure I am ready for
the gym in the morning. I talk about each workout, sometimes in great detail,
to poor John (bless him for asking and listening) because it excites me to share
my journey each day.
Likewise I don’t try to live a healthy lifestyle because I
feel that I should. I used to but not anymore. I am happy to say that now I do
so to support my fitness goals, which ultimately tie into wanting to be healthy
and strong for a long, long time to come. I’m still fine tuning my eating to
match up with my VERY new mindset of believing I’m an athlete but I do feel
this may be a huge piece of the puzzle that’s been holding me back in achieving
even better results than I already have. Yes, Chris, if this is true you will
be right yet again, damn you!
How else do I know I’m an athlete? I’m writing a freakin’
blog about it! Who does that?! Someone who is excited about health and fitness,
that’s who. And someone who is excited about these things and is as dedicated
as I am is, in fact, an athlete.
