Why Do You "Tri"
Why Do You Tri?
One of the beautiful things about triathlon is that the reasons to start are endless and the sport doesn’t judge why you started, it treats every single person out there same way. Maybe you started to challenge yourself, as stress relief, to lose weight, or a friend talked you into it; the list goes on and on and it doesn’t change that you are still out there. When I jumped headfirst into the sport in 2013 I did not envision it would have taken me to where I am now; multi-time Kona Qualifier and finisher, triathlon coach with 30 athletes that trust me to help guide them, multi-time podium finisher in 70.3 and most importantly someone who has found a passion within herself that continues to blossom and guide throughout the years.
In 2013 I decided to “do” a triathlon because I was going through some stuff that really broke me. I was heartbroken, frustrated, uncertain, and most importantly filled with anger for the life I was living. Not that it was a bad life, I had a job, I kept food on my table (barely), and I had a roof over my head but it wasn’t anything like I had envisioned for myself at this point in my life and for that I was angry. One morning I woke up and realized that I needed a change but wasn’t sure what that change was so I signed up for a triathlon…. that’s what we did in my family. Need a change, need to fix your attitude? Go do something that challenges you and pushes you outside your comfort zone. Well, it did just that. In the middle of my first Olympic distance for the first time in many years I was in control of my situation, I was in control myself, in control of my attitude, and most importantly I was smiling at myself for the first time in a long time. Triathlon brought me back. Triathlon showed me that if you want to change you have to first change your attitude, your mindset, and your internal environment before you can change your external one.
Over the years my “why” has changed, it has grown and evolved just as I have grown and evolved as person, a wife, a daughter, a coach, and an athlete but that underlying reason of why I got into the sport still remains. That underlying passion that I found somewhere out on the race course on that day in 2013.
The thing about your why is that it is unique to you and most importantly it is allowed to change! In fact it should change!!! The problem is that often throughout our journey’s we find that our why gets lost. It gets lost in the pressure of the sport, the pressure of life, it gets lost in the data that we get consumed with, and I see it getting lost in the fact that we are changing yet maybe haven’t realized it yet. When we lose our “why” we often feel lost, uncertain, and lacking motivation. Seems so silly, some small little thing such as a “why” can have such an impact on our desires but your why is so much more than a little thing, it is the backbone of your passion and a backbone of your motivation. It is the driving force of what you are doing.
Having a solid why is important because of the following:
It helps you stay focused
Your why is the start of your road map towards your goals. It becomes easier to focus on what matters in your life when you have a road map, a guiding force, and a why can easily be that guiding force.
Gives you passion and purpose towards your goals
In my opinion this is the most important one because without a why we can’t really define our goals and when we can’t define our goals we kind of just wander around aimlessly without any real sense of purpose. I am not saying you have to have goals and a road map for everything you do in life but it is important to have it for the big things.
On top of that your why is emotion based and those emotions are strong. When we can tap into that emotion it brings us motivation and drive all of which fuel our purpose.
Helps you in decision making
As mentioned before your why is the start of your road map, and when you have a road map it makes it easier to stay on target with your decisions. Your why helps you to define the values in your life and guide you to making decisions that are best for you.
Drives you when times get tough
All journey’s have ups and downs. In triathlon you see a lot of this, the journey is often long and lonely and when you are putting so much of yourself into it there are plenty of times that it is really hard. Turning to your why makes pushing through those hard moments so much easier, as it gives you a sense of purpose and makes the bad seem a lot less bad.
CHEERS!!!
KAYLA
Do you feel like you’ve lost your why? Feeling like you always give up when it doesn’t go perfectly or gets hard? I can help you! Feeling like you are stuck and don’t know how to change? I’m going to show you how. Or maybe that your why has changed but you can’t nail down what it has changed to? Are both of these things causing you to spiral down onto a path of negativity or give up when it doesn’t go perfectly?
This happens!! First off you have to acknowledge that it ok to feel this way!! We all go through this and sometimes you have to ask for help!!! The day that you choose to take control of the demons in your mind that are stopping you from reaching your goals. The day you choose to strengthen your mindset so that you can find passion, faith, and strength in yourself on the journey you are taking.
IT’S TIME TO SLAY YOUR DEMONS
I am here to help with the launch of Mindset Mastery a one on one program with Coach Kayla (ie: myself) to help guide you through re-defining your why and improving your mental mindset!!!
So what is the Mindset Mastery?
A mindset program for those looking to improve their mental strength and find passion in their actions. FOUR WEEK ONE ON ONE INDIVIDUALIZED PROGRAM DESIGNED TO HELP GUIDE YOU THROUGH IMPROVING YOUR MENTAL STRENGTH, MENTAL TOUGHNESS, AND ALL AROUND IMPROVED MINDSET TOWARDS THE STEPS YOU ARE TAKING ON YOUR JOURNEY. In this program you get four weeks of one on one calls with Coach Kayla, weekly exercises, informational videos, and Voxer access to Coach Kayla for questions and concerns!