Beyond The Horizon
Recently, I was thinking about these past two ski seasons and what I have been able to learn in that time. In every significant chapter of my life, I find myself asking the same two questions: what have I learned, and what have I left behind? Have I achieved the goals that I, at the outset – intrinsically – have set out for myself, and left something better than I have found it? (even if in the smallest way possible). That has been a driver of mine for a solid decade, I believe.
I was very well aware, when I switched from racing to coaching, that you cannot reach every athlete in the same way (or maybe ever), but I can confidently say that I am truly happy to have made the decision to stay in the sport and work with the next generation of athletes.
In these days of reflection, I was writing something – which I thought was completely unrelated to what I would say here. Yet, it somehow seems to fit perfectly, in a way, of what I would want to say in such a text.:
So, you've arrived at a point in your life where you've decided to go all in, and the best way of doing that would be to, actually, put your head down, while remaining aware of your own ignorance, and - naturally - want to keep learning, until you've reached the highest potential you are capable of? Good! Go!
Becoming obsessed means making it your first priority. That doesn't mean "Prioritize this. At all times. In everything.", cause then nothing else can have a right to exist, and that might limit yourself. Think of people like Galileo, Da Vinci, Kanye, etc. - becoming obsessed, means immersing yourself fully, to whatever it is you do, and getting your priorities straight. When it is time to rest, rest. When it is time to work, work. When it is time to have fun, have fun.
Following that: Learn how to have fun in doing exactly what you're supposed to be doing. Remember the saying: Simply saying that you're going to do it, isn't doing it. Making a plan on how to do it, isn't doing it. Hoping that you will do it, isn't doing it. There is no "if A, then B"; there's only "A. Then B."
McConaughey recently said something along the lines of, better to try 100 times and only win 8, than only try 8 times and win only 7. Trying is the primer. Winning is the consequence.
Roger Federer only won 54% of the points he's played in his career; he won 80% of all the matches he's played in his career. No one becomes anything, if he or she doesn't become consistent, first. Are you willing?
Learning to be humble enough, to ask for help from anyone who can give advice, in any way, means that you have accepted the fact that you do not know what you're doing yet, and you are willing to learn. Remaining yourself, in this process, means trusting yourself enough to make the decision of whether their advice was good or not; even if running the risk of taking a wrong decision. Whatever the outcome, then, is – ultimately – good. If the decision was the “correct” one, you’ve learned to repeat, in the future. If the decision was the “incorrect” one, you’ve learned not to repeat, in the future.
With that, I want to take this opportunity to say thank you to any athlete that I’ve been working with, over the past two years! It has been an incredible journey.
Some may not have gotten the message, in the way that I intended for it to come across; others have. Either way, to the ones whom I’ve seen wanting it more than the rest, and putting in work – day after day, after day – tirelessly, and without complaining: you guys are a true inspiration, and the reason why I still choose to be in this brutal, beautiful, poetic sport of ours.
Our ways may part here. New beginnings await. The unknown is upon us. How does one know whether they are ready to face, whatever there is to face beyond the horizon? You don’t. You prepare to the best of your ability, so that, when you cross over, there’s no question marks left; only execution.
Thank you all for an amazing two years in Norway!
Vi se oss 😊
The story continues. Time to embrace the life of the unbound.
Maktub.
Ski racing is poetry in motion.
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