Like everyone reading this post, my household is really missing watching the Olympics. But even before that, we were hooked on the Tour de France. With the Tour lasting a few weeks, we complemented our daily highlights with documentaries—Lance Armstrong’s 30 for 30, Icarus (an American cyclist researching doping ends up uncovering the man responsible for Putin’s doping program), and Tour de France: Unchained recapping recent years of racing.
My husband jokes that he can’t get me to watch documentaries unless they are sports-related, and he might be onto something. One of the reasons I love them so much is because the stories are SO GOOD. They can make you weep, drum up inspiration you might have been lacking, or simply captivate your mind for a bit of distraction from the daily humdrum of life.
I don’t need to pause here to reiterate that stories are the heartbeat of TealHaus. If you are reading this, you know that already.
The Olympics was its usual binge-worthy buffet of delicious stories. But I think I decided which one is my favorite.
It relates to an idea I had after watching these documentaries and thinking about motherhood. Wouldn’t it be fascinating to take a “regular mom” and train her to be Olympic-level-talented in her sport of choice?
Imagine this. You give the hero of our story 12-18 months of Olympic-level training (or longer—how long does it take, I do not know). It would become her job. Kids, everything else, is taken care of and she gets to focus on her sport. All day, every day, it is about the nutrition, rest, training, and mental health necessary to become a warrior.
As a mom, she understands how to work hard, multi-task, and get things done. (Editor’s note to say I am certainly not saying non-moms don’t get this at all. I observed a change within myself post-birthing babies, and I am curious if my athletic potential would actually be magnified after going through the physical hardship of birthing children.)
Could she become good enough to compete on the world’s biggest stage “from scratch” if all the ingredients were there? If it becomes a documentary in two years, y’all know I came up with it here first.
But then I read the news story about Kristen Faulkner, the American cyclist who won the women’s Olympic road race. Seven years ago, she clipped into a bike for the first time. She was a finance professional who went to a beginners clinic for newbies in Central Park and a mere seven years later—at 31, no less—she won the gold medal. This is the kind of story that makes my skin prickle and my heart beat fast. I am ready to get on my road bike and crush 100 miles (let’s be real, it will be a cruise up the Swamp Rabbit Trail and back at a leisurely pace, but we are just getting started here).
This is what I am talking about! You cannot help but feel inspired by Kristen.
It is a jolting reminder that we are underestimating our potential everywhere. Physically, professionally, creatively, relationally, spiritually—we are capable of more than we can ever imagine.
The story of Kristen’s big win in the Wall Street Journal is currently up on my iPad, but with a split screen on the stock market fall that happened on Monday, August 5. It is a metaphoric pairing of hope and worry. I couldn’t help but note the irony.
The article compares the market’s fall to 1987’s Black Monday. Warren Buffett sold off half his Apple shares, jobs data triggered a freakout, and artificial intelligence hasn’t quite met the hype or return on investment that was predicted. Couple those events with a stalling hurricane and an impending Veep announcement—nerves were high.
It is easy to look at stories like this one and let worry cloud the potential and hope that a tale like Kristen’s delivers.
We could choose every day to let fear and uncertainty drive our actions. But instead, I want to be like Kristen and choose potential.
Let’s go after our dreams with a dogged drive that says we can be the best in what we do and find joy in our passions—what is holding us back?
