Tuesday, February 8, 2011

BELIEVE??????????

I have been an athlete my whole life...Since I was little my mom and dad had me participate in everything whether it was gymnastics, swimming, basketball, jazz dance, or volleyball. You name the sport and I participated. I have had many different experiences as an athlete, some awesome moments and some not so awesome moments. But with each experience I learned something about myself.

As a young athlete I was always surrounded by older kids because I refused to leave my older sisters side. I watched my sister and the older kids wanting to be like them one day and prayed I would be just as good as them. As a kid school was always difficult with my learning disability and sports was something I excelled in. Sports have and still are a way of letting go for me and help me realize that I can do anything as long as I believe in myself.

My main sport was volleyball and I continued playing it throughout my college career. During college Kellee Roesel a coach that I look up to till this day came up with the phrase "believe." She wanted us to believe in ourselves, our teammates, and our goals for that season. This affirmation helped me gain the confidence that I had lost from a prior coach, helped my teammates and I to never lose hope, and helped me to accomplish things I only dreamt about!

After the last game I knew I wasn't done being an athlete and I picked up my barbell and started competing in Olympic lifting. I had been doing oly-lifting for awhile at that point for sport specific reasons, but now I wanted to go heavier and focus on form. Along the way I started to miss the high intensity moments that volleyball gave me, so I started crossfitting!

This last two years have been amazing for me both as an athlete and personally. I married the man of my dreams this past October and we have a wonderful home together now. I work at a local middle school/high school as the assistant strength coach. I have qualified for the nationals in June and have made lifts and totals I only dreamt about three years ago. Have mastered crossfit skills that would have never crossed my mind before starting crossfit and have been placing in the top five in crossfit events. I get through each lift and crossfit workout by believing I can accomplish the task at hand! I might not be able to accomplish it that moment, that week, that month, or even that year but I know if I believe in myself I KNOW I WILL DO IT.

Knowing and believing are two similar qualities in my eyes because if you believe you can do something then you know you are capable of ANYTHING! There are some days that I am in the bottom of a clean and I think to myself, "fuck this is heavy I don’t think I can do this!" But that is when the most powerful word comes to mind "BELIEVE." Believing in myself and my talents has and will not always be easy but believing I can accomplish my dreams will help me ACHIEVE THEM.

This quality of believing is contagious! Participating in crossfit has helped me to gain friendships with some of the most amazing women, both athletically and as individuals. Ladies, you know who you are have become part of my backbone in helping me believe in myself as an athlete and it helps me get through movements I sometimes do not think I can do. My husband Arsenio always notices when my confidence is low and reminds me to never give up and believe in what I am trying to accomplish.

I am not saying that in order to make a 100kilo lift all I do is believe. Of course I practice my lifts every day and stick to my training regime on a daily basis, but to me an athlete can have all the talent in the world, but if they do not believe in themselves and what they are trying to accomplish their talent will only take them so far.

So this brings me to my blog! Writing this blog has been going through my head for some time now and I have finally worked up the courage to write about what keeps me going as an athlete and as a person. Whether it is daily events, paleo recipes, or something that strikes me as interesting. Ultimately, my goal is to help people realize that they can do anything they set their heart and mind to; they just need to BELIEVE they can!!!!!!

2 comments:

  1. Love this Lindsey and you have helped so many others learn to believe in themselves certainly at Crossfit....I remember a WOD about a year ago and there were what seemed like a million squats you got a cramp but you kept going and of course completed the WOD. I can't tell you how many times I have been doing squats and that image has come to my mind and it gave me the motivation or the belief to complete my squats. I look forward to following your journey in person and on this blog.
    Jamie

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