My life has been a bit of an O.O.C party as of late. It's been full of great things, just a little more hectic and reactive than I tend to enjoy. There's so many tasks to be accomplished and sadly, visiting my blog has dropped to low on the priority list.
But here I am. Yahooo!
I am here because I have been feeling a tremendous amount of guilt around not updating. And not because I feel like I am letting all of my followers down (because I know they are awesome and forgiving), but because there is so much going on and documenting the journey always allows for a greater sense of foundation and direction. Guilt is a horrible emotion to harbour and I don't want it to exist in my life. So, with courage and urgency, I have come up with a strategy of how to combat it in this instance. I am going to write about it, stare it in the face and give a quick point form update of some things that have been happening. Then it will be captured and I can tell that little voice inside my head to STFU and enjoy the ride!
So, here's what's been going on with me:
1. I went to my friend Dave's competition in Idaho called the Great West Gym Fest. It was rad and inspired me for Kyle Shewfelt Gym Fest! I hung with my fellow Olympians Mohini Bhardwaj, Terin Humphrey and Daniella Silivas. Daniella has always been on a very high pedestal in my eyes and it was the first time I've ever met her. Meeting and connecting with one of your role models is a pretty uplifting experience! And, of course, Mo and Terin are totally sweet and we had a blast…did you know that Terin is a police officer now? I thought that was incredibly cool and ballsy (for those of you who don't know her, Terin won 2 silver medals at the 2004 Olympics for team USA).
2. Kyle Shewfelt Gym Fest is consuming nearly every spare second of my life. It's a HUGE undertaking, but I am really excited about this years event. I have realized that I am a total perfectionist and a details freak and it can drive me (and my colleagues) a little crazy. My mom is probably thinking, "You JUST realized this?". What can I say, it's a large part of who I am and it's played a large role in my life victories to date so I guess I have to accept it and fuel it. Event management is something I'm starting to feel I need more of in my life...
This year we have nearly 800 participants registered so it's going to be a GONG SHOW! But we have worked so hard to make sure it's going to be awesome and innovative. The event takes place March 22-25 in Calgary and I will give some more updates as it comes closer…once this little update is over :)
3. I travelled to New York City at the beginning of March for the AT&T American Cup gymnastics. I extended my trip for a couple of days and packed them full of New York awesomeness. I went to MOMA. Avenue Q, ran in central park (twice!) and pretended I was a local in Greenwich Village and SoHo. I always thought that I was destined to live there, but I realized that although it's incredible, it's just too busy and bustling for me.
4. I have been running like a mad man. I am going to put together a few individual running posts, but the short version is: I hate running on treadmills, I am now running the Calgary marathon on May 27th, I have ran with some pretty rad folks and having a goal and a plan makes my life more complete!
5. My dog rules. Seriously, he is the best dude ever. He's going through this really weird teenage phase where he's testing his mama and papa by trying to get into everything, but when he's good it makes my heart melt. I am so proud of him when he is well behaved and my friends and family comment on how nice he is. He also makes my life more complete!
6. My preparation for my role with CTV this summer is officially ON! I have been dedicating some solid time to researching and garnering some really rich language. With 5 months to go, I am going to have to kick it into high gear starting beginning of April and I am so excited about the pace picking up and the Games coming closer.
7. I have noticed that when my plate is full, I tend to try and multi-task more. This doesn't work! I end up having 10 half done projects sitting on my computer, all of them staring at me and saying, "which one are you going to finish first?". It's been a real challenge for me to finish what I've started in this past little while and I feel it's important to delve a little deeper into this pattern. One strategy that I've been using this past couple of weeks to combat it is to carry a notebook with me whenever I am focused on something (like right now) and anytime a new project or task comes up in my mind, I capture it in the notebook and revisit it after I'm done. It takes a lot of discipline, but it seems to be working. It's amazing how easily habits can form and how hard it can be to break them.
8. Writing my book is a "start and stop" kind of process. I was doing SO well for a few weeks in a row. One day I wrote more than 7000 words and the stories were just flowing, but then things got busy and I couldn't create the space to write. It's a work in progress and I'm going to have to be OK with that. I trust that I will get another surge of dedication to this project and someday soon I will be writing about the launch of the book on this very blog. That will be a very proud day!
And with that, I am done. I'm breathing a sigh of relief that I was able to come to my page and write with no distractions. It felt good and I am going to do more of it.
Cheers!
Kyle
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