It's Always the Olympics Around Here

I love the Olympics. LLLLLL-Love the Olympics!

I can't throw anything anywhere, can skate straight, and only straight, and haven't been on skis since 1992, but I always feel inspired to be better. Not as an athlete, clearly, but in whatever I am doing. 

True Olympic Spirit

That is the real spirit of the Olympics.  Making the most of who you are. Years ago, as part of 38 and Growing, I wrote a tongue-in-cheek piece about how being the mother of a toddler was perfect training.

More recently, however, during the 2024 Games, I went all in. At this stage of my life, I realize that to make the most of my life, I must be willing to love myself as I am, imperfect as I am, and enjoy living my life as it is.

Pebble Olympics

So I made a series of videos celebrating the Olympics my way - we served up kindness, fun, and joy.

“Do you believe in miracles?”

Now we are here yet again. I am watching beauty and excellence, bingeing films and documentaries about previous successes. I highly recommend the doc “Miracle: The Boys of ‘80” on Netflix. (Bring tissues.) All of it serves to remind me that nothing is impossible. 

If you want to believe that the impossible is possible, for me, there is no better movie than “Rudy”. When I was auditioning for graduate school, I held onto this quote more than any:

You're 5 foot nothin', 100 and nothin', and you have barely a speck of athletic ability. And you hung in there with the best college football players in the land for 2 years. And you're gonna walk outta here with a degree from the University of Notre Dame. In this life, you don't have to prove nothin' to nobody but yourself

I would remind myself that I was much more adapted to acting school than Rudy, and he made it happen, so why couldn't I? And I did get into acting school! Unfortunately, that was not the end of my insecurity.

Years later, when I have struggled, it has been a touchpoint. I would hear Fortune's voice in my head. I do have a degree. I had proven myself to everyone but me.

That is the struggle of my life. It is also the one I wrote about in my chapter of The Gifts of Pain. We all have a struggle. Find your "Rudy", your "Miracle", and go for your Gold, whatever that Gold is. 

Life is your Olympics. Live it. Love it. Land on the medal podium.