Spring cleaning

I wish I was talking about power cleaning, but I still haven’t found a new gym home …

Nope, instead, a DailyHap-inspired mental spring cleaning about my athletic identity. I mentioned in my last post that I’ve always been an athlete (which isn’t true, as I didn’t really become an athlete until late junior high or high school) and have tied much of my identity up in that. And I still do. I want to be able to ski, board, hike, bike, swim, play sports, and so on.

But in the spirit of spring cleaning, let’s look at the old athletic labels: former college athlete. All-star CrossFitter. Fast runner. Beginner. Mediocre at best volleyball player. These labels focus on my skills as an athlete, as opposed to the joy I derive from them.

This year: happy, happy basketball player. Built my all-girls team not with the goal to win (tthough it would be nice) but with the goal to PLAY, have fun, and bond. Which we did. CrossFit-style-sprinter-yogi more accurately describes my workout regimen these days, and I love it that way. Skier/snowboarder. I just am, I live in Aspen, and I can do both. Volleyball player with huge potential who laughs, has fun, and can play HARD.

It’s so refreshing to let go of the “Grading” of myself as an athlete. I spent my entire life working up to the next level—a better AAU team, starting on varsity, college—doing handstand pushups, muscleups, and deadhang pullups—being the first picked on any team—but it took tackling an ENTIRELY foreign sport in skiing and snowboarding to get me to realize that it’s not about how GOOD you are, it’s about how much good fun you have.

Which, as  is often the way of the world, has made me much better at things.

I’ve been thinking about this in terms of workout motivation too, because I haven’t planned a workout in weeks, and I keep thinking I should. But that’s old, grading, better, thinking. The things I WANT to do are all workouts, and that’s FUN. Instead of the snotty CrossFit phrase “my warmup is your workout” (which is true, for the record), I say, “My fun is your workout.” So much better!

Spring cleaning. Now if I could only find the right gym and get back to some actual cleans … for FUN!!