Monday, April 11, 2011

The tortoise and the hare... my life is a fable

I know it's been a while again. I could do this like confession and pray for forgiveness, but honestly, I've just lacked focus for the last few months. But, inspiration can come in the most random series of thoughts.  Let's see if you can follow my mental ramblings...

I was sitting at my computer stressing about life. How a recent bicycle wreck and injury are messing up with my plans - causing delays... and the thought that crosses my mind was - "I don't like being slowed down."
I have plans and goals with timelines... I don't like not knowing the details...  I don't have patience...   I have unrealistic expectations...

So the next thought deviation was contemplating the difference between "slow, steady, and deliberate" and "fast, inconsistent and hastily." And then that inspirational thought - Oh! Like the Tortoise and the Hare story....

The hare with his foolish overconfidence, napping in the middle of a race.... have I been acting that way? Well - if I choose to live out loud - than I must confess.... I have been a little overconfident, that I can easily tackle any challenge.  But my real fault is thinking that because I successfully changed myself - that all change from this point forward would be easy. So I might have been taking on change - full speed ahead.  Change is never easy if your head isn't in the game and you don't fully understand the journey required. Oh - and the people around you may not be ready for change at hyper-speed!

Triathlons - that was my next athletic hurdle.  Man - did I ever underestimate the focus and training it would require.  And it is hard to admit that I couldn't easily learn two new things (well - at least according to my unrealistic timelines).  I thought raw talent and past successes alone would be enough.  The past few months I have been frustrated that life got in the way and caused me to delay that first triathlon... My strategy to solve this?  More training time means shorter learning curve...

But life had a different plan for me - or a different lesson to learn.  Overconfident in ability and taking life a little too fast... can result in a nice bike wreck. Injury can definitely slow you down...

So time to erase the board and start over on goals... I have to remind myself  - no matter what the speed - the tortoise was always moving ahead. Steady pace... Patience.... Persistence... Perserverance...

"Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did." Newt Gingrich