With London and the world currently in the grips of Olympic fever, it is interesting to think what flow on effect this has to people getting up and about and being inspired by these amazing athletes. We have all seen reports of how sporting activities popularity increase after successful games. Soccer took off after 2006 World Cup and participation in swimming, cycling and running is always increased after Olympic and Commonwealth games, but is this because people are inspired or just reminded that they want to get out and be fit.
What is inspiration anyway? I read umpteen posts on a daily basis how people respond to a post and state how inspiring they find the person. Why? What makes them so inspiring? Is it because they have decided that they want to get up and finally do something about their life which they have been too lazy to do in the past? Sorry, but for me that is a crock and I don’t find those people inspiring at all. They are no different to me and if you find me inspiring I am sorry but find someone that has done something worthy of it. For long periods of our lives we have been lazy and stuffed our face with whatever went past our nose. I have no one to blame but myself for being a fat, lazy, grumpy man. Likewise I have no one to thank now being a slimming, active happier man. No one forced me to eat the crap, just like no one is forcing me to change my diet, my exercise regime and also me mindset now.
Yes I know this is a little different from previous posts, but it goes back to the post I wrote a couple of weeks back about people needing to gain perspective. I am happy for every single person currently doing the 12WBT as they have made a choice to do something positive in their life. This can never be underestimated and is a valuable lesson for all of us to carry with us through this journey. You may struggle, you may fail at times, but so long as you keep moving in the right direction you will get to where you want to go. If this means you need to have some inspiration along the way, go and find it somewhere from someone that truly inspires you, not just a few words in a forum. You might ask then what inspires me considering I have thrown this little snippet out there. Well I have 3 people that inspire me. Two of which I know quite well and 1 of them I have never met. How can someone I have never met inspire me you may ask? Well that person is amazing and the feats they have accomplished prove to me that you can do anything you want.
The first person that inspires me is a true battler. They have proven to me on numerous occasions that anything is possible and even though they complain, bitch and moan sometimes (feels like a lot at times) they still battle on. This person is my wife. For those that don’t know Julie, she had a serious car accident 6 years ago and ended up in hospital for 10 or so days. Her injuries meant that she had 3 plates and 22 screws inserted in her left leg. The next few years were a constant struggle with learning to cope, having a 3 small children and learning to live life whilst not being able to do what you normally could have in the past. Add to this, she is doing the 12WBT on a lot less training than me (simply due to her physical incapacity) and is killing it with over 14kgs lost in 8 weeks. She has had her ups and downs but this is proof that you can do it if you want to badly enough. Well done sweetheart, you are a legend.
The second person is my father-in-law. Eddie is amazing. He is the most positive person I have ever met. He has his own health issues, which I will not go into on here as I have not asked him for permission to openly speak about, but he has never let that stop him from living life to the full. He is making sure that his life and time spent with his wife, kids and grandkids is being done to the fullest. Whilst Eddie is doing well with his treatment and will probably be around to haunt us all for quite a while yet, it amazes me how he can be so positive and no-one would know he had health issues. For me that is truly inspiring and I look to those sorts of people and wonder why others, including myself, complain about silly things and also take life for granted. I have done this for quite some time and thankfully now have realised that unless I get up and do something about it I might be having very different health issues of my own which I have caused.
The 3rd person that I find truly inspiring is the one person I have never met, but would someday truly love to if I ever had the chance. This person has competed in marathons all over the world, been a finalist on the Laureus World Sports awards, is a world champion, finished the Kokoda Trail and all this with no legs. This person is Kurt Fearnley. As someone that has done Kokoda, I found it the toughest thing I have ever done in my life. Admittedly I was overweight, but mentally and emotionally it was more draining for me. That is easy enough to say when you have legs and can walk it. Kurt dragged himself the entire way using his arms. Yes it was tough for him and he thought about giving up, but did he? Hell no, this guy finished what he started and no one was going to stop him. If there isn’t a lesson in that for everyone in life, especially all of the fellow members of the 12WBT then we are all missing something. I know now that it will need to be a truly special story for me to tell someone they inspire me, hell I haven’t even told my wife until I wrote this, so I will need to remedy that.
The 3rd person that I find truly inspiring is the one person I have never met, but would someday truly love to if I ever had the chance. This person has competed in marathons all over the world, been a finalist on the Laureus World Sports awards, is a world champion, finished the Kokoda Trail and all this with no legs. This person is Kurt Fearnley. As someone that has done Kokoda, I found it the toughest thing I have ever done in my life. Admittedly I was overweight, but mentally and emotionally it was more draining for me. That is easy enough to say when you have legs and can walk it. Kurt dragged himself the entire way using his arms. Yes it was tough for him and he thought about giving up, but did he? Hell no, this guy finished what he started and no one was going to stop him. If there isn’t a lesson in that for everyone in life, especially all of the fellow members of the 12WBT then we are all missing something. I know now that it will need to be a truly special story for me to tell someone they inspire me, hell I haven’t even told my wife until I wrote this, so I will need to remedy that.
I don’t care how many gold medals we win, how many athletes that have work their backsides off for the entire life to get to where we expect them to be, they don’t inspire me. I appreciate them and support them but I am not inspired by them. It is those people that have done extraordinary things that you don’t expect and have battled the hard fight and won that inspire me. I will learn more from the three people above more than I will most others and for that I am grateful, now I just need to use that inspiration to fuel my needs to get to my gold medal. That is a fitter, healthier and happier version of ME!!!!
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