07/10/2019
If the journey of fitness, sport, and competition brings you happiness, that’s fantastic and you are doing it for the right reasons. If you’re doing it because you think there’s going to be happiness and glory on the other side, then you are setting yourself up for disappointment.
There are three instances where I started out on a journey toward what I thought would bring me happiness.
The first one, was opening my CrossFit affiliate. I thought that if and when I had a successful business up and running that I would be happy and proud of myself for achieving my goal. In reality, I made a lot of sacrifices, I put my health on the back burner, and for what? The journey should have been the fun part, not the end result. And the journey never ends - it simply changes. I’ve had to realign my expectations and reevaluate what part of running a business makes me happy.
The second one was an arbitrary goal I set for myself in the CrossFit open. I set a target based on my ability to train while running a business and raising my son, and when I reached it my immediate reaction was “that’s it? I thought it would feel better to achieve my goal.” But the problem is, I achieved my goal and instead of celebrating the journey and work it took to get there, I was instead disappointed that I hadn’t done even better.
The third was competing in a high level competition. The competition itself was absolutely amazing and one of the best memories I’ve carried with me in the months since, but the let down after it was done was huge. It felt like I had achieved all of the goals I set out to complete, and it resulted in a bit of a personal crisis where I didn’t know what to work towards anymore. I was tired from working so hard to grow my business, raise a child, and maintain a high level of fitness, and upon completing each goal I allowed myself to fall into a rut. Where do I go from here? What’s next? Who am I?
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Happiness doesn’t lie on the other side of achievement. It lies within the journey and day to day living. Is what you’re doing in the moment both making you happy, and inching you closer to your long term goals? If it’s not, it’s time to re-evaluate and soul search