Going for Gold!

I love the Olympics. Every two years when they come around I countdown the days until they begin. When the competitions FINALLY begin, I get a permanent excited feeling in my tummy that lasts for the whole two weeks of competition! In truth the Opening Ceremony and all of it's double meaning scenes tend to bore me a little and at times much too deep for me, but I am excited none the less! Why do I love the Olympics so much you ask? Its because I love watching people succeed. Two years ago during the summer Olympics, my best friend and I made tee shirts dedicated to Michael Phelps just so we could wear them while eating in laffy taffy in her basement and freaking out as we watched the tv. Would you like a more recent example? Look no further than Men's ice skating winner Evan Lysacek. He hadn't even won his gold medal yet, but when he finished his performance and was so excited and proud of himself I almost cried. Athletes like that have worked sooooo hard and sacrificed so much to make their dreams come true, and I can't help smiling and getting much too excited when all those dreams finally become reality!

For Shawn White, his unveiling of the Double McTwist was a truly amazing moment for him but what was even cooler was what he said afterwards. When asked about the progression of snowboarding and his new medal, he responded like this, "With every sport I feel theres risks. Even driving, you can risk accidents in any situation of life, I dont really think about it too much when I'm riding, obviously, you have to have so much confidence to do this stuff..." He went on to really answer the question, but what I really found important was his mention of confidence. It goes to show that you can practice 12 hours a day and be the healthiest person on the planet, but if you don't have CONFIDENCE in your abilities and yourself than you can't accomplish great things in life.

Its strange how one little sound bite made me realize how important this quest is to me, but it truly did. I want to go to college and major in communications so that I can be a writer and interact with people, but I won't be able to succeed and be truly happy with myself if I don't have faith in my abilities and don't love myself for everything I am and everything I am not.

I think it is important to remember that through this Quest I am striving to become more confident and proud of who I am. To do this I must forget what the "haters" think and say and focus on how I see myself. Everyone has critics, even snowboarding god Shawn White and gold medalist Evan Lysacek, but the people who make their dreams come true and do great things are those who respectfully say "I don't care what you say" and continue to stay who they are no matter what. On a larger scale, I think of Martin Luther King Jr. What if he had let people's opinions and harsh words bring him down? He might never have started and led the Civil Rights Movement! I mentioned earlier in this post that I loved seeing people succeed. I have come to the conclusion, that its my turn now. :)