The person I met with is an independent
contractor with a particular interest in new technologies and start up
enterprises.
He is not a native of Australia however,
having lived and worked in a number of Asian, Australasian, European and
American Cities has decided to base himself in Brisbane and make it his home.
In addition to his professional
expertise, he is a talented endurance athlete including having completed a
number of Iron Man Triathlons, the most recent of which was in 2012.
Business and personal circumstances combined
5 months ago to allow him to prepare for another tilt at Iron Man fame.
Through a variety of conversations, he
decided in the last few weeks he doesn’t need to do another Iron Man event.
He came to realise that he was defining
himself by way of being an Iron Man Triathlete and in doing so, was distracting
himself from a range of other things in life.
He very consciously and deliberately
decided to no longer be an Iron Man.
He remains highly motivated to remain fit and
healthy and to continue endurance sporting activities. He will compete in a
Marathon overseas in May and perhaps another locally in July, it is just such
activities will compliment rather than dominate his being.
I enquired as to how he came about this “self
defining” realisation and he mentioned a newly blooming relationship.
Bluntly, his new “friend” put it to him
that his obsession with training and sole focus on the Iron Man
Event meant very little time for her. It was she who asked if he always plans
to define himself as an Iron Man.
His first reaction was to explain that
this is who he is and who she was attracted too until it dawned on him this is
a repeating pattern. He realised for the first time that other relationships
and potential relationships had faltered due to his obsession with training for
the next event.
He also realised that if he didn’t change
his ways, he was more than likely destined for aloneness.
How we are defined is a perplexing
question. It is also one we don’t really get to answer, at least not about ourselves.
Our ego may drive a type of behaviour
that dictates how we may want to be defined however this is either not
sustainable or is not a pathway to being happy and fulfilled. Even an actor
gets to be themselves when not working.
As with many things, the answer is based
in simplicity.
If we focus on being the best version of
our authentic selves, we have no concern with how we are defined, and more so,
we simply won’t care.
Wishing a safe, fulfilling and authentic
Easter to all.
No comments:
Post a Comment