Life After - Part 2

Yesterday I started writing about that tough day that some athletes go through when they are told that they can no longer do their chosen sport. How you cope with being told that you can no longer do a thing that you very much enjoy, a thing that has become a central part of your personality and is sometimes a big contributor to your feeling of self worth.

As I wrote about yesterday, one of the best bits of advice I got was about taking time. Time to figure out just what it was that I enjoyed outside of triathlon, what else there was that would give me some of the same feelings of fulfilment.

Today I wanted to write about something a bit more fundamental and that is the place that a sport has in our lives.

When I was first told that I shouldn't race anymore, I think the thing I probably heard the most was, 'well it is just a sport', that may have been accompanied by 'there are more important things in life'.

Now, when you are an athlete that has dedicated 20 to 30 hours per week of your life over years in the pursuit of something, being told that it was 'just' anything can be pretty frustrating. There are instantly feeling of rebellion against that sentiment and that other people simply don't understand. The thing is, that despite these sentiments, those people are actually correct.

Any sport, including triathlon, really are just a sport. No matter how much we like to think that it is our entire lives and it is our way of life etc, the fact is that if you remove triathlon life does actually continue, the world doesn't implode. Not only that, but if triathlon is removed then it is actually possible to continue on having a happy and healthy life if you want to. It isn't a choice that many triathletes would make willingly, but if it is forced on you, then life as you know it probably won't end.

I have to say it took me a while to get my head around all that. It sounds silly to write it, but when you are fresh off being told that you have to stop, then it can be hard to see outside the triathlon bubble that you have been living in. Seeing outside that bubble is a step that needs to be taken though.

I found that in order for me to transition to 'life after triathlon' I had to come to terms with the fact that it really was just a sport. Once I had done that then it was much easier to focus my energy on other things. Once you are able to focus on other things, then the loss of triathlon doesn't seem to hurt quite as much.

Of course all that is easy to write, but I found that it took me a while to get to. That is where the time thing comes into again. I like to think that I always kept triathlon in perspective, I don't think it ever entirely consumed my life (my wife may beg to differ), but all the same it still took me a while to accept that there was life afterwards. It took me a while to accept that there were in fact things in life unrelated to triathlon that brought me fulfilment and enjoyment. It took me time to find those things in the first place. I think with time and perspective these revelations were a pretty natural process, so I found that giving myself the time to come to these conclusions naturally was very important.

All this is a pretty basic, however, as simple as it is I think it is an important step that has to be taken in order to be able to happy move on with life after triathlon.