Defining Moments

 Have you ever stopped to consider defining moments in your life?  This is a potentially heavy question that we may not have answers for.  I was inspired to wander down this thought path after listening to a podcast featuring Tony Hawk the other day.  As he discussed his career in skateboarding and how the sport causes folks to regularly face moments of challenge and failure, I started to wonder about the same moments in my life. 

Before I could try to answer the question, though, I felt like I needed to gain clarity on what defining moments actually are.  My first instinct was to think about goals I had accomplished in my life, ranking the ones that felt the hardest as the most important.  The more I considered this, the more I began to question this line of thinking.  Do we want to be defined solely by the things we achieve?  It felt shallow to base self-worth purely on outcomes and end results.  What about the work behind those achievements?  Didn't that count for something, if not everything?

And that is when it struck me.  In my mind, defining moments ARE those points in time when we are doing the work, and likely no one is even seeing us doing it.  If I am going to be defined by anything, I would like it to encompass all of the dark, cold mornings when the alarm went off too early and I rolled out of bed to lace up my running shoes to complete a workout that I was either not jazzed about or unsure I could complete.  I want to be defined by the things I have chosen to say no to in order to put more energy into what I have said yes to.  I want to be defined by the work ethic and pride I have taken in putting my all into my development and growth.  I want to be defined by being true to myself and my desires, no matter how outlandish or unachievable my dreams may seem.  

Sure, lining up to toe the line next weekend in Chicago will be one of the biggest moments in my life and something that I have worked damn hard to do, but when I look back at all that has taken place in the weeks leading up to the big day I feel that the defining moments have been captured in the thousands of steps and hundreds of kilometres that have led to the starting line. 

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