100th POST!
Welcome to my 100th blog post!
I started posting on this blog about six months ago on 6/26/06, just a few days before I left California for Rochester.
Although my last post was a bit of a heavy one, I think I've come a long way. Over the past few months I have shed about ten pounds and gained some muscle, slowly working my way into the athlete that I was physically. But as I shed the pounds, I am also shedding a bit of the past, the "old iris". I've come back home and rediscovered my roots, relinquished my relationship with an abusive coach, and started a new and fabulous journey.
Fascinating People
Whenever I go through a trial or struggle through some negative thoughts, I seem to get a reminder that I am not the only one.
I was watching TV tonight with my mother, and since we don't have cable, we were stuck on Barbara Walter's special of The Most Fascinating People of 2006. One of the fascinating people on her list was an athlete that I have admired for a long time, Andre Agassi.
He said something that was so pointed in my direction that I couldn't ignore it. Barbara asked him what it was like to come back and work his way back up the rankings from #141 to #1 in the world. Andre told Barbara that he thought about quitting a thousand times and even went as far as to give his racquets away. But he only quit for that small moment because he always wanted to continue. Even after his 21 years of failure and great success, "It was never about winning", he said.
Is someone trying to send me a message? Just this afternoon I was at the gym and told my trainer, after a few expletives, that I was tired of waiting and I just wanted to WIN! If I could, I would take that statement back because it showed that I hadn't learned anything. I know that if I continue to think that winning is a true validation of the process then I have truly lost.
The Amazing Pomegranate
In an effort to teach me patience, my mother has decided to buy me a pomegranate each week. If I want to eat it I can't simply pick it up and bite into it. If you have ever eaten a pomegranate you know that it takes time to peel it open, take out all the fruit, and then eat it. In the end, you wind up wanting to eat it slowly since it took you so long to peel and prepare.
My mother is hilarious. We now call it the "patience fruit" and she watches me as I peel apart the fruit and disect it into something edible. The funny part is that I can never figure out a way to take the fruit out faster-it is what it is. If I get frustrated she tells me, "Iris, you must work on the patience. Enjoy the experience and then enjoy the fruit."
Thanks, Mom.
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