On Tour with Kaylin: The ups and downs of 2007

When I first started writing my blog, I mentioned that I would very likely exploit the use of clichés.  I have tried to steer clear of them, but the last couple weeks I have been thinking about the old saying, “Your greatest strength is also your greatest weakness.”  
    Especially in light of the New Year, it is productive to have an idea of your so-called weaknesses and strengths. Many people at this time of year try to shrug off bad habits or instantly create good ones. Luckily, I have no affinity for cigarettes and feel that my current weight is satisfactory. However, there is plenty I could do better. I have tried to subjectively look at 2007 and evaluate the successes and the failures.
WHEN I FIRST started writing my blog, I mentioned that I would very likely exploit the use of clichés. I have tried to steer clear of them, but the last couple weeks I have been thinking about the old saying, “Your greatest strength is also your greatest weakness.”  
    Especially in light of the New Year, it is productive to have an idea of your so-called weaknesses and strengths. Many people at this time of year try to shrug off bad habits or instantly create good ones. Luckily, I have no affinity for cigarettes and feel that my current weight is satisfactory. However, there is plenty I could do better. I have tried to subjectively look at 2007 and evaluate the successes and the failures.
    2007 was a great year. I achieved a great deal and had lots of fun. When I started to think about what I could improve, that irritating cliché kept coming up. I am a thinker. In many facets of my life it has been a strength. In school I enjoyed challenging my mind. I liked to plan and strategize and go over different scenarios in my head.
    When it comes to skiing, in many ways being a thinker has been beneficial as well. I can look at a course in inspection and memorize it the way I want to ski it. I have never skied flawlessly, but I have made some very smart moves when I have had to adapt my line due to conditions or mistakes. However, like the saying goes, there is the “yang” to that “yin.” My entire life I have been guilty of overanalyzing. I could “what if” and jump to conclusions until my face turned blue. You would think that after skiing World Cups and racing in the Olympics that I would get it through my head that agonizing over what the future holds is wasted energy — put even more succinctly: a waste of time. I have told myself over and over again that fretting about what could happen is not at all constructive. It is dealing with what has happened that is the key.  Slowly, I am becoming more aware of this realization.
    Life is peculiar, though. The moments of triumph and prosperity are not what make you grow as a person; the hard times and the low times are what build character. They work together. When you are struggling it is the promise of the good to come that keeps you going and the joy of accomplishment is sweet because you knew what it took to get there. There is a funny poem that comes to mind by Shel Silverstein in “Where the Sidewalk Ends.”  He is one of the few poets that I felt spoke to my stunted level. ( Alas, most beautiful pieces of prose and verse are lost on my unpoetic ear.)  The poem is called “The Land of Happy”

        The Land of Happy
        
        Have you been to The Land of Happy,
        Where everyone’s happy all day,
        Where they joke and they sing
        Of the happiest things,
        And everything’s jolly and gay?
        There’s no one unhappy in Happy,
        There’s laughter and smiles galore.
        I have been to The Land of Happy —
        What a bore!

    It is a funny premise, but it is absolutely true. If you had chocolate cake every day, you would lose your desire for sweetness. If you were showered with compliments constantly, you would lose your gauge of genuineness. If you won every race, you would lose the reward of victory. Without the prize, the struggle, work, and hardship would never be worth it. That is what keeps us going.
    Coming into 2008 keep that in mind. Life is a continual string of undulations. When things are good, enjoy it, relish in it, be grateful for it because it probably won’t stay that way forever. And when things are bad, take heart, and trust it will get better because it will.

Happy New Year!

For now,
Kaylin