If it were easy

Everybody would do it

I’ve watched a lot of sports documentaries recently

And by a lot, I really do mean a lot! Hours upon hours of content for research purpose, see now that my own sports documentary is entering the final stages of post production, I thought it wise to do some more research and see what’s already out there

Each film I have watched has left me with a feeling of admiration for those that ‘do’, for those athletes who sacrifice so much just so they can compete at the highest level, sometimes that moment lasting only 10 seconds as is the case for 100 metre sprinters

These athletes train and dedicate themselves to one goal, one objective and one outcome for such a long time, forsaking all other options, removing and ignoring any distractions and committing to an often stressful regiment where each minute of their lives is accounted for

They do this for a long time

A much longer time than the average human will can withstand

Each step forward presents with it a new test, a new challenge, a new obstacle to overcome

Their endurance is tested, character? tested, indomitable human will? tested

Bones break, dreams are crushed and in many cases, the inner human spirit eventually caves in a breaks too

Still, they crawl back and continue

If it were easy, all of us would be doing it

Most of us do not even attempt

And for the few that try, the game is rigged, predesigned to separate the chaff from the wheat, skilled at sniffing out the rare golden few from the BS’ing non committed jokers that dared enter the ring in the first place

This arena is where dreams come to die – like the Roman gladiator arenas of old, its kill or be killed

These athletes demonstrated to me that it didn’t really matter what sphere of sports they had chosen, the demands are the same. Eat, Sleep, breath this thing, know it like you know the back of your own hand, leave nothing on the table, give it all you have and just maybe, the game may turn around and love you back

Nobody said glory was cheap

The price is costly

Yet, it got me to thinking

These athletes, gladiators that they are, represent all of us, they represent a tangible manifestation of the human will expressed

We cheer them on because we recognise that they are doing what we all want to be doing in our own sphere of interest

We all want to excel, we all want to discover a passion, a calling so consuming that we willingly throw ourselves against it’s closed doors, breaking everything within us, knowing that when we are healed we will be stronger and eventually that closed door will be broken and we will enter

If it was easy, we all would be doing it

The funny thing is, we don’t want it to be easy. It means so much more when you know just how much you sacrificed to obtain it, to achieve it, to conquer it

It doesn’t matter if its your professional or personal life – adversity is one of the tools life uses to whip us into shape, sharpen us and make us even better than before, you will never appreciate it while you’re in but once you get to the other side, well, assuming you learned the lesson and rose to the occasion, then you will be all the better for it

If it were easy, everybody would do it and life is anything but easy or fair

Guess I’m (finally) learning – it was never supposed to be

Be well

SRZ