They are the very two things that will shape and shift me to my next level!

They are the very two things that will shape and shift me to my next level.

 

Yet, they are the very two things I was all in for ... for only a short while.

 

I’ve been sitting with myself for the past week putting pen to paper, reflecting on the year that was and the year that is to come and my 11yr old self kept on subtly resurfacing. It’s like she would peak her head up in my thoughts and then disappear again.

 

It wasn’t until today that I realised she was showing up for a reason.

 

And, when I think back over my 43 years, she’s shown up before too.

 

It’s to teach me a lesson I haven't yet fully learnt and, she will continue to show up until I learn it.

 

Fortunately, she’s the only one who knows how to lovingly and gently call me out and remind me of the very things that will shape and shift me to my next level.

 

So that’s where I’ll be taking it this year.

 

I’m calling on my 11 year old self to step forward and show me the way. I call her my “best self”

 

𝙆𝙚𝙚𝙥 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙖𝙣 𝙚𝙭𝙥𝙤𝙨𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙧𝙪𝙩𝙝 𝙞𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙙 ...

 

For those of you who do not know, I started swimming training at 9 years old and by 11 I was competitively swimming with the good ones who were 1, 2 and 3 years older than me. I was training 5 mornings and 3 afternoons.

 

They say I could have gone to the year 2000 Olympics. Unfortunately, at the age of 14, puberty had well and truly set in and, I felt completely insecure in a one-piece swimsuit, on the blocks, in front of hundreds.

 

So… I gave it all up.

 

I only just admitted to this THIS year AND, it’s the 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 thing in my life I still regret!

 

That girl at her peak. That 11yr old girl. She’s me!

 

But even more than that, she’s a girl who was determined, motivated, committed, open to challenges, able to push herself, had good habits, worked hard at school, went to maths tutoring, felt inspired, was competitive, confident, and passionate all whilst loving it all.

 

Throughout my life, there has been many times that I have been searching for something; however, I never really knew what that something was

 

And

 

Whenever I felt this way, my pattern of behaviour would be to find something that pushed me physically, so that I could move through it mentally.

 

Unknowingly during each of those times, I found myself being called back to the water and, the very thing I had been searching for was already within me.

 

𝐌𝐲 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟.

 

This year, every step I take, my intensions are to do it at my best. Keeping it simple.