To Make a Positive Impact - Just Keep Showing Up
I was disappointed the other day listening to a triathlete on a podcast say about his endurance career and Ironman distance racing, "Not to take anything away from the accomplishment and the significance, but it is almost like everyone is doing it. What can I do now to branch out, make a statement, be a little bit bolder?"
From my experience, if you are going to train and take part in a 5k walk, marathon run, Ironman triathlon, channel swim or multi-day adventure race, and if your motivation for showing up is just to be noticed - get used to disappointment and a relatively short career spent struggling for long term motivation.
If you are going to set off into the ocean, down the road or up a mountain in search of your passion and a connection to what makes you feel alive - get used to a lifetime of amazing experiences that will keep you feeling alive with unlimited potential.
Long before I made headlines for swimming across some ocean I was the new guy in town that others saw showing up and swimming every day at the community pool. Eventually one or two others joined in, then a workout group formed and now a whole community of athletes heads out together into the world on foot, on wheels or in the water.
You don't have to be the first, go the longest or run the fastest to make a difference. JUST SHOW UP! I promise you, people will notice, and you will change lives.
"Don't ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive." Howard Thurman
From my experience, if you are going to train and take part in a 5k walk, marathon run, Ironman triathlon, channel swim or multi-day adventure race, and if your motivation for showing up is just to be noticed - get used to disappointment and a relatively short career spent struggling for long term motivation.
If you are going to set off into the ocean, down the road or up a mountain in search of your passion and a connection to what makes you feel alive - get used to a lifetime of amazing experiences that will keep you feeling alive with unlimited potential.
Long before I made headlines for swimming across some ocean I was the new guy in town that others saw showing up and swimming every day at the community pool. Eventually one or two others joined in, then a workout group formed and now a whole community of athletes heads out together into the world on foot, on wheels or in the water.
You don't have to be the first, go the longest or run the fastest to make a difference. JUST SHOW UP! I promise you, people will notice, and you will change lives.
"Don't ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive." Howard Thurman
Posted by Bruckner Chase at 2/4/2011 10:49 AM 
Categories: Swimming, Ocean Conscious, Ocean Advocacy
Tags: Motivational motivation bruckner chase swimming make a difference open water
Categories: Swimming, Ocean Conscious, Ocean Advocacy
Tags: Motivational motivation bruckner chase swimming make a difference open water
This speaks to me and the way I have lived thus far. While I have never achieved "greatness" in my athletic endeavors I have definitely grown to my own level of greatness. One of my sayings is that "I will suck at something for a long time and I will eventually get good." This has carried me through many years of continuing challenges. I went to Sicily 3 summers ago. I had been swimming a bit I decided to see how far I could go in the Mediterranean. This is when my life changed. I swam and swam and I felt like I could go on forever. In the salt water it was like riding a bike downhill. So calming, so quite and so peaceful. I came home knowing that I found my sport. I went on the web and found some guy named Bruckner Chase; and I thought my name was unique. So I showed up and started swimming the ocean. I was scared and yes it’s hard some days but I cannot imagine life without it. I now look at life like a wave; sometimes it hits you hard but there is calm after it breaks. You know that there is another wave coming but if you work hard and get past it you can enjoy life on the backside watching them roll past. Bruckner now has me hooked on the paddleboard. I find myself once again sucking at a sport that I know, because of my hard head, I will keep doing until I achieve my own level of greatness. Whether you are an athlete, a parent, a spouse, a boyfriend/girlfriend, a son/daughter, an employee/employer; never stop raising the bar and never stop trying. Just keep showing up and give of yourself because this is truly what life is all about.
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