I always say that life gets crazy. And its true....but we learn to manage. Over the weekend I attended a Dance Comp for my girlfriends daughter. She happens to dance at the same studio where my oldest daughter attended and currently teaches. The girls danced amazing and took home a massive trophy with the best Overall Group dance of the entire day. It was pretty amazing.
Why do I bring this up....well....there are a few reasons.
1. Life
2. Expectation
3. Managed Chaos
These girls (and even some guys) work hard to learn the dances. Then they show off their skills. The work they put in isn't really seen by the general public. They are in dance class receiving instruction for hours upon hours multiple days every week. This is the same for any athlete. No everyone sees (or understands) the work that goes into the outcome. The blood, sweat, and tears that are buried into anyone showing progress can be hidden. As a former dance dad I have seen the hard work. I see it now with the girls at the studio. Its amazing to see. This becomes part of their life. The schedule revolves around their schedule. Saturdays are sacrificed for the entire year. But you get into that flow of life, where you have it planned out every night and it makes it easier. A plan. We always have plans in our lives. Those plans change, and we just have to do our best to keep moving ahead.
Just like cycling events, dance competitions have levels for their competitors. The better the dancers, the higher the levels. From solo dancers to group dances...those levels change. Even within a team the levels become very evident. And the dance teams have multiple dances with different dancers. This means that even within a team that there are other teams competing against each other. At the competition last weekend when one group dance took the Highest Overall award it was an amazing outcome. Everyone was extremely proud of the entire studio, but especially happy for that group for taking the highest honors available. But, not everyone was completely happy with it. We heard one of the dancers from the group that was not in that winning dance was having a hard time with some jealously. It was stated that "it isn't fair that they get all the attention when the whole studio dances". She didn't care they won, she was slighted because she didn't get any glory for not winning. But that is part of life. Instead of cheering for her team, she took offense and basically said "where is my trophy". But that isn't life....and we need to teach these kids a few things. First, cheer for those that win. Its ok that you didn't win, but its not ok to be upset with them because they did. Second, use that loss (or their win) as fuel. Add it to that fire and use it as motivation. Say "next year that will be me up there with that trophy" instead of "this just isn't fair". Work for it. Improve. Come back stronger. Life and expectations.
During some down time at the competition, Christine and I were talking about some vacation options. Somehow we arrived at how chaotic my life was in the past. How I managed it for 25 years and how that chaos gets injected back in whenever dealing with certain people. That chaos ended for me and I prefer to not live like that again, but I see my kids trending that direction. I realized that because of how they were raised that they almost crave that chaos. Its literally all they know. That stresses me, but they are all pretty much adults and can choose that chaos if they want. I can handle the chaos, but I refuse to live in it. Its not a healthy environment. When I get pulled back into that chaos it shows as major stress and I am working on how I struggle with it.
I know....boring post right....life...chaos....this is dumb. So lets talk bikes for a minute. lol.
Riding has been pretty good. Getting some solid rides in and feeling good overall. Had a hard ride Sunday and legs were actually sore Monday, so I took the night off. Heading out tonight though for some miles and plan Yankee tomorrow. Dropping the weight has been helping. Down over 40 pounds for the year has been a huge accomplishment for me. I still have bigger goals ahead, but I am so happy with what I have done so for. So a few more rides this week before heading up to Grayling for Hanson Hills 50. I plan on doing a preview of this event.
Overall....keep on moving forward friends!
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