There Is No Applause At The End

“Anything in any way beautiful derives its beauty from itself, and asks nothing beyond itself. Praise is no part of it, for nothing is made worse or better by praise.”

-       Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, p.33, para. 3

There is no applause when all is said and done. This is the only thing that I was repeating to myself, as we wrapped up the final day of a sensational New Zealand camp.

I want to preface this by saying that this might be one of the most personal entries I have written, so far. This one’s straight from the heart.

The past 5 weeks have been one of the most educational, joyful, intense, fun… I have ever experienced. So, to address one of these terms, I chose to focus on the educational aspect that this trip brought with.

During our time there, we all have noticed that, as anywhere you go, in any walk of life, there is a tendency of people to complain and feel sorry about themselves. One might wonder how that’s possible, when considering the fact that we get to travel across the globe to pursue goals in the sport we love. But I digress.
Intrinsically, I and the people around me, have an issue with that. The older I get, the more this seems to be the case. Because it is one of the easiest things to do. Maybe it’s also, because I used to practice that behavior myself, regularly. Regardless.

Ultimately, what we’ve learned is that, there’s zero need for care towards someone else’s slacking as long as oneself can recognize that as a direction which one should avoid.

Truthfully speaking, in that regard, I used to have a bigger issue with people not appreciating my effort in counteracting this sort of whiny, complainer attitude. However, a good friend recently made me aware of the fact that that is, simply, “the ego speaking”.

And, speaking of ego, recently I’ve noticed it once more. After what I’d personally consider a great day, where I’ve executed on everything that I’ve set out to do, and it worked, I’ll admit, I felt a sense of satisfaction and pride. In the same instant, however, I was able to get my feet back to the ground. “There is no applause in the end.”

Nor should there really be a need for one. That is, simply, a sign of the bad parts of the ego wanting to be fed. Better not to indulge.
What’s more is the fact that, when one looks at it objectively, the applause/praise are all, simply, short-term gratifiers. Someone telling you they appreciate your effort is worthless if it is not followed up by action.

To expand on the learning curve -> I am truly grateful to have been, and especially now, am surrounded by people of whom I will never expect to give me a pat on my back, because they won’t have to. Because their input and output is all the evidence necessary.

As I’ve clearly stated in the past, it is an absolute pleasure and honor to work with the athletes and people that I do.

They give me an opportunity to learn new things on the daily.

How to be more disciplined.

How to take oneself less seriously.

How details matter.

How belief in oneself goes before optimization.

That it’s cool to have weird, specific interests.

But, then again, in our sport we are all living out our weird, specific interest – together.
Be grateful for the people who understand what the definition of the term “two-way-street” is.

Your environment is the most potent source of your future actions.
Your responsibility is the choice of that environment to the best of your abilities.

New Zealand is mind blowing.
The winds are picking up in the northern hemisphere, yet again.
The music is quieting down for a bit.
We keep pursuing.
Day by day.

To change a quote from Josh Hart (NY Knicks):

            Complaints are like a street lamp to a drunk person. They’re something to lean on, but they won’t get you home.