Until I divorced, I had never been passionate about playing sport. But it was my divorce that was the catalyst to joining a triathlon club.
Three years later I represented my country in a world triathlon championship in Chicago in my age group.
We can’t travel to re-invent or escape anything right now, and any kind of overseas escape feels like a far off dream sitting in Australia. So could sport hold the solution for now?
It was during my second year in the sport sitting with a group of women the night before a big race that I realised everyone there was also using sport to pivot their life. We were all easing out of a life crisis, and for most it was a relationship breakdown.
This is why sport could be the way to get through your own life crisis and help create the life you really want.
- You get out of your comfort zone daily.
When you start any new sport, you have to do things differently in both a physical and mental way. Your timetable changes, and heck even your food intake changes.Change during a crisis is a good thing.
2. You conquer your fears in a physical way
Before I did triathlon, I was unable to swim in the ocean and I did not know how to ride a professional road bike clipped in. This meant that when I started I had a very large mountain to climb in terms of addressing and conquering those mental and physical weaknesses.
These were terrifying ideas to me, but step by step with the help of experienced athletes within the club, I conquered my fears.
3. You meet people who wouldn’t otherwise have crossed your path
There are so many different people in the world, and ways people look at life. Joining any new group of people breathes new life into your own perspective on so many of life’s issues and challenges.
Several of the women I met in the club ended up in relationships with guys for the club.
4. You Put Yourself First
For so many women, we put everyone around us, especially our children before our own needs, but committing to a sport means you have to show up and do the work, and to achieve that, you must put yourself rest.
5. You can compete competitively and travel
There is a freedom within a competitive or team sport that the discipline of it provides. For me, to compete in the world championships I had to compete in 4-5 races each year all over the country.
This means taking my children on adventures and to locates we had never dreamt of going – and we created memories we will share forever.
6. Your kids respect what you are doing
My twin children saw me getting out of bed every day at 5am, doing 11 training sessions a week at times, and committing to a sport I had previously been afraid of.
They also sat at the sidelines of races cheering me on, and they were the first people I spoke to when I crossed the lines at the world championships in Chicago.
7. Your body gets better without really trying
Sport helps shed the kilos and tone the body which is a fantastic side advantage to competing and training intensely.
If you want to compete in any sport, you are forced to get healthy, which is an incredible bonus.
8. You prove something to yourself
Once you achieve your sporting goal, you are reminded deep inside yourself that you are capable of committing to yourself, the discipline that is required and ultimately you are capable of surviving and achieving anything you want if you out your mind to it.
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