When I attended the Strong Like Bull training camp in Spain, one of the comments made to me was that “it’s all about sacrifice.”
I’ve been chewing on this comment ever since February. Although it was made with regard to training for an ironman, the topic of sacrifice became a general conversation. “In order to be the most successful you can be, sacrifice is required.”
Is this true? Is it really “all about sacrifice”?
For me, I don’t think it is. Rather, for me the pursuit of success is about making choices, not about making sacrifices.
In various stages of my career I have chosen to work long hours, do whatever is required, including last minute travel to far flung destinations. I chose to put my personal life on the backburner in favour of my professional life and career. I chose the focus on work, not friends or family, as I was taking satisfaction from my job and my career successes and achievements were reinforcing my self esteem and sense of achievement. I took a lot of pride in being one of the few people globally to have concluded the number of business deals which I have, to have interacted with so many different companies and cultures, in so many different contexts.
In the same way, I chose to focus time and energy on myself over the last two years. I saw a future in which I was losing strength, short of energy, and feeling fundamentally unwell. And I did not want that future. When I reflected on why I was feeling this way, it seemed that my choice – the focus on work – was leading to some unintended consequences, including a loss of my health. I decided to take a more balanced approach to my work in order to give myself more time to do things that I enjoyed – which included more time with family and friends, as well more time swimming biking and running, and more time at home.
And the more that I swam bike and ran, the more that I learned, and the more that I wanted to swim bike and run.
At no stage has my journey been about sacrifice – it has been about choice. It has been about finding something that I enjoy doing, alongside my husband, and doing it as often as feels right. As often as my body can handle without consequence – the last thing I want to do is to overdo things and become injured. I train as often as my slow nerves and tired muscles allow, without falling into a trap of overuse or overfatigue. I train as often as I can handle mentally, without building up unduly high expectations about myself, my own performance, or stress related to either my performance or the times when I just don’t perform.
It is not about sacrifice. It is about choice.
I choose to do triathlon, to feel physically strong, to set myself challenges, and to work to those goals.
I choose family. I choose friends. I choose surrounding myself with positivity and love.
I choose having a job that keeps me challenged and stretched, that keeps me interacting with people from around the world. I choose work to keep me intellectually stimulated.
I choose to be active and to be healthy.
And I try to keep it all in balance.
What do you choose to do? Do you think that success means sacrifice?