Thank you for reading my blog last week, and for those of you who reached out, thank you.
All is well, but for better or worse, I just couldn’t gloss over the deep hurt I was feeling for people I am very close to who lost very close people in their lives recently and writing about the numerous exhausting, yet entertaining workouts I chipped off that week on my way toward Ironman Arizona honestly just felt fake, and insincere. I know my brand may seem like it is purely positivity with a humorous glint in my eye, but I’m not selling anything, I live for making people feel good, better, encouraged, but with a heart so large and open, I feel a lot, maybe too much, and some days it’s overwhelming.
Last Tuesday was one of those days.
I am grateful for the passion to express myself through words, but the fact that I publish those words once a week for an incredible and supportive audience to read is both amazing and terrifying. The act of releasing such raw emotions definitely ups the ante on overwhelm, and for most of last week I wished I had more restraint on Tuesday afternoon, that I held in those feelings, written out, but then deleted those words, and rather donned the cheap, yet useful, “fake it ‘til you make it” adage and not let anyone in, but I’m not that slick and cool, so I wrote and published what I honestly felt, and subsequently lived through a very uncomfortable week.
But clouds and come and go.
Mercifully, emotions are ethereal. They don’t have to lock us up, but they can force us to stop and notice that we are hurting, what a gift, because it is only when we stop to recognize our pain point that we can cut the lock and walk through the door instead of constantly slamming against it.
My lock was snapped when I accepted that we are truly only here now. That’s it. True, this revelation is coming from the Queen of nostalgia, and the proud legal owner of a goal spraying Super-Soaker, but just like Ironman World Champion Chelsea Sodaro, I too use the mantra, “Stay Here”, when racing, (and/or while enduring any hard challenge), because the truth is that the past can’t help us, and the future can’t save us, we simply need to appreciate each experience when and as they come; feel all the feels, and be grateful for the chance to feel any of it. Joy, pain, sadness, pride, love, forgiveness, it’s all here for us, so be here.
There is nothing that delivers the power of presence like the weighted love of a gorgeous four-legged on our lap. (Our girl Blue, last Sunday night.)
Furthermore, I wanted to include this exceptional episode from Peter Attia’s The Drive podcast that delves further into this week’s theme (and helped to ease my heart and mind last week) where he interviews author and social scientist, Arthur C. Brooks. Brooks is the author of the current book I am reading, and strongly recommend, From Strength To Strength.
P.S. Ironman Arizona training is humming along nicely. More on that next Tuesday.:)
The song and video choice this week is an absolute classic and inspired the title of this week's post (it did actually rain last week in LA), Rob Base and DJ EZ Rock's Joy And Pain.