The Folly of my Youth and the Mid Life Crisis: doer

Monday, June 7, 2010

I am a Do-er

I don't know when it happened. Maybe it was 6 years ago when I started running and then took a month long snowboarding class. They were definitely life changing experiences from which I will never be the same again. I blogged a little about them here and might have to expand further one day. But maybe it started before then. Maybe it was the year we pulled Jake mid year out of a school where nobody valued him. Maybe it was when I decided to forge a new path not sending Jake to pre-school and then homeschooling him for 2 years. Or maybe the real moment happened when I walked down the aisle to my high school sweetheart at 19 years old.

I don't know when I became a do-er and not just a thinker. Which moment in my life was the turning point where I realized I could do what I put my mind to? I don't really come from a family of do-ers. We are more talkers. We sit mesmerized and slightly confused as we read about or listen to people who share all the things they are do-ing. We don't really do. We just talk.

But then one day I did. I stepped up and announced I was marrying at 19. I stood firm when everyone tried to talk me out of homeschooling. I boldly plowed forward when everyone at Jake's school thought I was some crazy mother in denial. And then one day, I ran out my back door and nothing has been the same since.

2 years ago when we were talking about going to Africa, a year before the actual trip, someone in my family commented that it will be nice if it works out. IF it works out I thought!? Was I talking like I was only thinking about it? We ARE going to Africa. And we did.

After Africa I told a friend how I really felt like I had become a do-er. I wasn't just a dreamer, a talker, a thinker. Since then I have dreamed new dreams that I believe will happen. I really do believe I will be able to write magazine articles and that God will lead me down an exciting path. I am not afraid to pursue that dream I am excited to take action as well.

And so this weekend I did another thing that I would have in the past just talked about, been amazed by others who were able to do it, and wished I was a person who did it. This weekend I became a triathlete.

I signed up in February and proceeded to keep up with my weekly killer spin class, regular runs, weight lifting and in March added twice weekly lap swimming. If I ever thought about staying home one morning I would be reminded of this impending deadline of June 5th to be ready for the event. I knew I wasn't a competitive person and my goal was simply to finish the race.

Last Saturday I did it. I became a triathlete. Something I always admired in other women is now something I have done. I rock.

I think one of the biggest changes in my life as a result of becoming a do-er over the years is in how I view the world and specifically other people. I don't meet people and think, "I wish I could do that." "I wish I was like her." "Why can they do that and I can't?" Now when I meet people doing amazing things I can enjoy who they are and what they are doing without any feeling of inferiority because I know that I am capable of doing whatever I set my mind to. I am a Do-er.