Let the Games Begin!

Let the Games Begin!

By Allen Merritt © 2018

It’s hard not to get wrapped up in watching the competition and hearing the stories of many of the athletes participating in the Olympic Games. 

If you listen closely you hear the strife and struggles of how many hit rock bottom over and over again just to get the chance to live their dreams and reach for a positive outcome, to be the best they can possibly be. 

All it takes is one moment, one lucky break to make all that training worthwhile. And, in many cases, we are talking years and years of commitment to yourself and the sport. It does not matter how good you are, the training, the commitment and stars aligning in just the right moment in time either avail themselves or not. One can witness this by seeing the best of the best athletes get knocked out of the running for a medal. To err is human and the Olympics is a prime example of this.

I feel I cannot let one more minute go by without recognizing how each of us has the same opportunity to keep going toward our own potential with a continuous positive and persistence approach. In that, there is accomplishment through perseverance. There is always some kind of outcome and it is up to us to stay motivated and inspired toward that end whether it be simple achievement of a goal or declaring a win for a medal.

It is easy to get caught up in the darkness. This is the place where true grit comes alive. This is where chutzpa grabs a hold and can take us places including toward the light we are seeking at the end of a long and tenuous tunnel.

That is the reason I want to encourage every person I can to watch these amazing individuals compete, perform and strut their stuff, because in doing so we can feed off their energies and learn something about ourselves in the process.

How far are we willing to go? How long are we able to hold on and put the pedal to the metal? How much are we going to throw into the mixing bowl? Where is our heart in the process of what we say we are dreaming of? Where does our faith, belief and hope in ourselves and our gifts come into play? What is the ultimate for which we are striving for?

To remain positive throughout everything we endure is critical toward our ability to sustain a sense of calm and contentment in the process. Because in that we learn more of whom we are and what we are capable of, not-to-mention how we are all winners in some capacity. Maybe in some sense we spark our own fire and maintain our own light. One key component is to never hide your light under a bushel. One cannot be a beacon if we extinguish the light within.

I want to be infused with this positive energy every day. I want to use it to overcome my low energy days, all negative thoughts being thrown my way and learn more on taking work ethic and churning out something good from within myself. This is what you see happening during every Olympic competition, in fact, every sporting event.

We may not win awards, medals or even unanimous accolades for what we do, but every step forward means that many steps are behind us toward achieving something valuable and meaningful in meeting the goal, whatever that goal may be. The choice is personal, but it's ours and ours alone.

So…

Put your back into it!

Add some elbow grease!

Go out there and make all your dreams more a reality.

Take every opportunity to reach out and live each day on a positive note.

Let the games begin!

Cheers!