The Evolution of You

Yes, I create the training plans, analyze the data, help analyze nutrition, heart rate zones, etc, etc.... but my athletes do the work. They do the training. When they thank me, I have to remind them that it honestly has very little to do with me, I am just the drill sergeant. It is the athlete, the person who must do the work, face the demons, endure the triumphs, I am really just the guide.

I have been so blessed to work with a tremendous amount of people, through teaching spinning, yoga, coaching, etc. And it never ceases to amaze me, to watch each person evolve. They begin their cycling career, yoga practice, whatever it is with a degree of uncertainty, doubt. They are humble but eager. Some believe they have what it takes and some won't believe it if you hit them in the head with it.

I get to sit back and watch them peel away the layers like they are peeling the layers of an onion. First to disappear....... doubt. It comes from the first milestone whether it be a downward facing dog or the finish line of a 5k.

Have we spent so much of our lives not believing in ourselves that when we crest the milestone we are actually surprised? When did doubt begin and the innocence of childhood end? When we thought we were ten feet tall and bullet proof. When the world was open and wide and good.

The world never changed...... we did. Through circumstance and life and whatever that entailed for us.

So we begin a journey of whatever kind. In my world it is an athletic journey of sort. But an athletic journey is an incredible metaphor for life. If I can climb this hill, if I can hold this balancing half moon, if I can just ride 5 miles.......... then what else could I do?

One success leads to another, small or large and we have this energy that builds up inside of us. It begins to bubble and at times we have difficulty holding it all in. Like we are a shaken soda bottle and the cap has not yet been released. Like we are just ready to shine for all of the world to see.

And then we might feel guilty..... I don't want to seem conceited, I don't want to seem like I am bragging. But.... is it?

When did reaching for the goal, when did putting yourself on the line, when did believing in yourself become a bad thing?

Somewhere on our journey we began to believe it was.

So strip back those layers, reach for the starts as they say. Pull of the mask and let that bright light that is within you shine so brightly that even you are surprised.

That isn't walking around saying "I am the best in the whole world!"

It's quiet. It's personal. It's within. Once that light begins to shine from within, people will begin to notice a change in you, that they can't identify.

"Something seems different about you." They will say "But I don't know what."

Because you have finally removed self doubt, self loathing, self hatred. And you have replaced it with someone who takes care of themselves, someone who has grown into their own skin, and someone who throws open their arms and allows the world in.

:-) Mary Eggers