"Now usually I don't do this, but uuhhhh go ahead and break 'em off with a little preview of the remix..." (R Kelly)
Wow, this post has been a long time coming. I haven't blogged in a good three months, which is simply too long for both you and me. In the words of my Middle School, Soviet wrestling coach, "This is unacceptable, Mr. Hague" (pronounced as Mista Ha-gooo").
Wow, this post has been a long time coming. I haven't blogged in a good three months, which is simply too long for both you and me. In the words of my Middle School, Soviet wrestling coach, "This is unacceptable, Mr. Hague" (pronounced as Mista Ha-gooo").
I could bore you with every single detail, but that would take too long and my memory is not good enough to recall them. I am sorry if this blog is more a personal baggage than my usual musings. I hope though that you find some sort of redeeming life truth at the end for you to take away (you can skip to the bold section at the end if you are in a rush).
Therefore, here is a snap shot:
March: Bunch of cold weather and little sun light, (that little rodent in Pennsylvania was full of shit when he said it would be a short winter). Even though I wanted to make my season debute in San Juan 70.3, work and finances (those two pesky life limiters) got in the way, so I had to pull an audible and change to racing Galveston 70.3.
April: Awesome race in Galveston taking 5th in the AG. More cold weather in DC. Lots of work at the store.
May: Went down to Knoxville to race the Rev3 Half, got hypothermia on the bike, had to drop out. Not the greatest of races and a long drive home. More work at the store business picked up and with it my stress levels. Found three grey hairs
June: Raced the Oly at Rev3 Quassy. Awesome swim and 10 mile ride, then two flats, followed by a fast 15 mile ride and a 36:29 10k, so essentially two great races with a 40 minute coffee break in between. THEN I was offered a job in Phoenix, AZ at a charter school, which I immediately accepted. Set to move on July 5th!
That last event was a HUGE life changer, and is going to be the focus of the rest of this post.
For the most part I enjoy working at Bonzai, but over the past few months I have found that my life is out of balance, and when your life is skewed in one direction be it social, work or training then all of those spheres suffer and so do you.
Work was draining me of energy, killing my workouts, stressing me out, and killing my already pitiful social life (it was already dead but it was beating a dead carcass even more). You would think that working at a triathlon store would be great for a triathlete and to some extent it is: I may not get health care but I get great bike care, I am abreast on all the latest tech in the industry, I know all the inside details of geometry and design, and the discounts are wonderful. But everything else is horrendous, the hours are during key training hours so I have to cram all my training (sometimes even 3 workouts) between the hours of 4am and 8:30am, after which I had to be on my feet for the rest of the day, no weekends, one day off a week if I am lucky, and no set hours or schedule. By the end of the day, I am usually so tired that I have no energy to do anything but go home, eat dinner, play a couple rounds of Words with Friends, watch "Jeopardy!" and crawl into bed for another 3:45am wake up call. Pretty pathetic.
I know there are athletes (some who are incredibly good) who have tougher jobs (doctors, nurses, military, police, fire fighters, just to name a few), who can find time to train in the middle of a chaotic and stressful life, but for some reason I just could not find that balance that I needed. My life was unsustainable. Something had to give and something had to change. When the teaching job became open in Phoenix, I knew this was the change that I needed to make.
Now teaching is not going to be an easy job; it's not going to be a cake walk--not even a gluten free cake walk. Having worked with kids (and parents) in the past, I am expecting a lot of work, but at least I will be doing something that I am passionate about. When you enjoy what you are doing and it fulfills your passion then you can get through the worse parts and may even "enjoy" (for lack of a better word) them. Its similar to training: if you love the sport, then those hard workouts, while tough, are still enjoyable.
More importantly, I think changing jobs will restore my life balance, which I have not had since leaving my coaching job at Sewanee. Trying to balance life, work and training is always tough. For a happy, healthy, and sustainable life, I think people need all three in near equal proportion. If you are completely focused entirely one sector in your life, not only does that area suffer but also the other two. No one wins except your psychologist who will be raking in the cash from all the therapy session you will need..but thats just my two watts.
Welcome to the next episode...
Thanks for reading and I promise to blog more often, returning to my normal social and psychological observation and insights instead of mundane life updates from some West Coast (formerly East Coast) kid.
Therefore, here is a snap shot:
March: Bunch of cold weather and little sun light, (that little rodent in Pennsylvania was full of shit when he said it would be a short winter). Even though I wanted to make my season debute in San Juan 70.3, work and finances (those two pesky life limiters) got in the way, so I had to pull an audible and change to racing Galveston 70.3.
 |
| Galveston 70.3 |
April: Awesome race in Galveston taking 5th in the AG. More cold weather in DC. Lots of work at the store.
 |
| The calm before the storm in Knoxville |
 |
| My Wattie Clique in Quassy. "Aint no one fresher" |
That last event was a HUGE life changer, and is going to be the focus of the rest of this post.
For the most part I enjoy working at Bonzai, but over the past few months I have found that my life is out of balance, and when your life is skewed in one direction be it social, work or training then all of those spheres suffer and so do you.
Work was draining me of energy, killing my workouts, stressing me out, and killing my already pitiful social life (it was already dead but it was beating a dead carcass even more). You would think that working at a triathlon store would be great for a triathlete and to some extent it is: I may not get health care but I get great bike care, I am abreast on all the latest tech in the industry, I know all the inside details of geometry and design, and the discounts are wonderful. But everything else is horrendous, the hours are during key training hours so I have to cram all my training (sometimes even 3 workouts) between the hours of 4am and 8:30am, after which I had to be on my feet for the rest of the day, no weekends, one day off a week if I am lucky, and no set hours or schedule. By the end of the day, I am usually so tired that I have no energy to do anything but go home, eat dinner, play a couple rounds of Words with Friends, watch "Jeopardy!" and crawl into bed for another 3:45am wake up call. Pretty pathetic.
I know there are athletes (some who are incredibly good) who have tougher jobs (doctors, nurses, military, police, fire fighters, just to name a few), who can find time to train in the middle of a chaotic and stressful life, but for some reason I just could not find that balance that I needed. My life was unsustainable. Something had to give and something had to change. When the teaching job became open in Phoenix, I knew this was the change that I needed to make.
Now teaching is not going to be an easy job; it's not going to be a cake walk--not even a gluten free cake walk. Having worked with kids (and parents) in the past, I am expecting a lot of work, but at least I will be doing something that I am passionate about. When you enjoy what you are doing and it fulfills your passion then you can get through the worse parts and may even "enjoy" (for lack of a better word) them. Its similar to training: if you love the sport, then those hard workouts, while tough, are still enjoyable.
More importantly, I think changing jobs will restore my life balance, which I have not had since leaving my coaching job at Sewanee. Trying to balance life, work and training is always tough. For a happy, healthy, and sustainable life, I think people need all three in near equal proportion. If you are completely focused entirely one sector in your life, not only does that area suffer but also the other two. No one wins except your psychologist who will be raking in the cash from all the therapy session you will need..but thats just my two watts.
Welcome to the next episode...
Thanks for reading and I promise to blog more often, returning to my normal social and psychological observation and insights instead of mundane life updates from some West Coast (formerly East Coast) kid.
Hey! Congrats on the life change. I love life changes. They are so energizing.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the job Chris. It's a bit sad to see you go so soon after we met but it sounds like a great positive step for you. Best of luck in Phoenix I'm sure you'll do great
ReplyDelete