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I wish....



I love the olympics!! How inspiring and motivating, watching all these athletes pursuing a dream. A wish for many just to make it to the trials but a lifetime of training to land on the podium in Bejing. Karel and I spent the weekend watching cycling and the olympics. The Tour is exciting and for the third year in a row, I love listening to Karel's comments on the race. I think Phil L. may lose his job to Karel if Phil continues to mess up on teams and the names of the athletes :) As far as the olympics I am reminded of all my 10 years of competitive swimming. I swam from the age of 12 (late bloomer for a swimmer) until I graduated from college. I remember going into all my races (100 breast, 200 fly and 200 IM) wishing for a win. I never won a meet, just a win for my heat or a win in pre-lims to make it into finals. I would wish for a great race, a great season or a great relay win. I see many of the athletes in the olympics thanking God (or a higher being) and I'm sure there is a lot of wishing prior to the events. Wishing to not get injured at the trials, wishing to place top 1,2 or 3 in order to make a team and wishing for a teammate to have a great race. While training your body to compete at a top level is one thing, having confidence and wishful thinking is what a race comes down to. Wishing and hoping come with every athlete before a race and I know that I've wished for things (no rain, wind or fast competition) and ultimately my wish doesn't come true. But wishing is always fun when it comes to a competitive event.
Well, then we get to the wishing of a loved one or friend. You wish they would not be sick anymore, you wish your friend/loved one didn't have to pass away and you wish that your loved one or friend didn't have to get an illness or disease. Again, wishing may not do any good but a wish to change something bad or to feel bad for a situation is just part of being sensitive and having feelings.
How many times have you wished that you could easily lose weight? When was the last time you wished that you could eat as much as your significant other or your friend? Did you find yourself wishing that eating healthy could be easy?
I hear from a lot of people that they wish they could just eat whatever they wanted and not have to worry about what they are eating. Wishing that they didn't have to feel restricted with food when trying to lose weight. I even catch myself watching Karel and wishing that I could eat like him. Eating as much as he wants, eating whatever he wants and just not worrying about what he eats. Well, I started thinking about how silly I was sounding when I actually "wished" that I could eat differently. I am eating for me and my body. If I could wish for anything, I wish that people on bikes wouldn't get hit by cars. I wish that animals wouldn't get hit by cars. I wish that there was a cure for all cancers. I wish that people could live to old age without getting killed by vehicles or guns. I wish that my parents, grandparents, brother and family members could all live a happy and healthy life. There are things that I wish for....not that I should be wishing that i could eat whatever I want.
I think people tend to wish for things to be easy. Well, most things. When it comes to training for a triathlon or a cycling race, you are ok with the fact that it won't be easy. Training your body to get stronger or faster takes time and a lot of hard work. Training for an event doesn't happen over night and it takes a lot of dedication. When it comes to losing weight or getting more lean, it is not easy. A lot of people feel that gaining weight is easy but when you think about increasing your risk of being sick/being ill, increasing stress, increasing sadness and the other many emotions that come with gaining weight, it isn't fun. However, losing control of good eating habits is what causes people to gain weight. Eating something or more of something is what puts on pounds. Losing weight does involve restriction but you are restricting yourself from foods which caused you to put on the extra pounds. Eating conciously and being smart with your food choices may be difficult at first but then you learn to eat for yourself. You no longer have to wish that you could eat like everyone else because you know you are eating to be healthy.
I know losing weight is hard and I know eating to fuel your training is hard. But rather than wishing to be like someone else or wishing for an easier option, enjoy the process of eating healthy and ultimately the rewards will be priceless.