Stop Faking It

I am a big fan of Inc. Magazine, and this month had a great page in their “launch” section. The thing that caught my eye was the headline:  “Stop Faking It” (what? a sex column in a business mag?)

Next, was the quote: “If nobody shares they are struggling, nobody will know anybody else is struggling. That results in a bunch of people feeling isolated and scared and like big, fat losers.”

This advice was from Tara Hunt, and was in the business context, but how flipping true in daily life. At least that’s how I feel. Some people are intensely private and shuffle along in life preferring to have others glean nothing personal about them, see no faults, smell no farts, and only observe them flying high in their externally perfect world.  (Oh, in case you haven’t noticed, I’m not one of these people. If we only had smell-o-blog.) 


People email me, “OMG, I can’t believe you wrote that” (which was especially true of the menu following the half-Ironman and pretty much any discussion involving my fatness and wetsuit).   I’m no liar when I talk about how hard it is to be a mother, especially a working mother.  A wife.  A non-serial killing member of society (sometimes).  

From the start of this blog and the kid blog, I realized quickly that I was doing no good candy-coating anything about my journey, triathlon or otherwise.  Most of all, I would be no good to myself.

For those advanced triathletes out there, it’s good to remember that you too (no matter how athletic you were at the start) still had your first swim start.  Remember to have a spirit of encouragement to the newbies, no matter how slow or unfit they may be (or annoying on the bike course….ah-hem, me).

For the newbies out there, embrace and if you can stomach it, bravely share your fears and struggles… because chances are, someone else is feeling the same way.  Faking it…well, that’s just for baby showers and cocktail parties…

Have a great week, ya’ll.