Olympic Training

May 12th, 2010

Sometimes life really is a pooh filled ice cream cup. Sometimes it is a brownie sundae. Today was not one of those brownie days. Door to door sales is truly the most rewarding, miserable, exhausting job on the planet. If it wasn’t so rewarding on so many levels, it would be extinct. No one would do it, regardless of how easy the sale supposedly is.

Today, and these last 2 weeks have been a struggle. I had a nice cry two days in a row, which was very therapeutic. My feet hurt and my skin is burnt. I got drenched today, stuck in a electrical, windy storm. I thought I might blow away; if it had been someone else I would have laughed. I didn’t laugh, okay maybe a little. People thought I was probably losing my mind, I got a little hysterical. I got kicked out of my area 3 times today and threatened to have the cops called on me. People get annoyed when you knock in a “no soliciting” community. (hey I thought it was for prostitution... which I am not. ;) It didn’t say No Advertising.) This all really happened... today.

Now it seems that I am being very negative, I’m really not. Just giving you perspective and will now explain why it is relevant.

My brother Brandon has said that I need to look at it as olympic training. As usual, he is right and I have been trying. I guess what he means is that you will fail and fall (which I have literally done, often) many times, but it’s about the journey and that when you finally have that success, you will see that it is well worth it. I am in the fall and fail part and as frustrating as it is, and hard, my attitude hasn’t suffered. I still am seeing the positive in the hard and sometimes demoralizing job.

Such as: I am losing more weight, I am busy, and getting in shape.

Also, there are still good, kindhearted people. There still are people that give water and food to a complete stranger. There are some people that listen and become interested, no matter how many different alarm companies have knocked on their door in the last week (4). There are complete strangers driving by and they see a girl sitting on curb at night. Do they keep going, No. They stop and ask if she needs a ride or if she is lost.

People are good. People still have a compassionate heart.

Olympic training isn’t just about your body, it’s your mind, emotions and heart too. I think I have the heart and desire perfected. I don’t quite have the mind down. I seem to struggle with organizing my thoughts while on the doors, and the emotions are a work in progress. But a soccer, baseball, basketball, hockey, etc player didn’t start with everything perfected. They grew to have those things through hardship and struggles. They all had the desire to be and do something. I hope that I have that within me and one day will look back at this time and not see the frustrations and struggles as much as I see the successes.

Although these last seven days have completely stunk, life is still a sundae. It may not be a brownie sundae quite yet but nevertheless, still a sundae.