Don’t aim for success if you want it; just
do what you love and believe in, and it
will come naturally. David
Frost.
I love this David Frost quote. I believe it to ring true in almost every aspect of life, from the most seemingly mundane, to the most extraordinary. Recently, it stroked its little wand upon me in a clearer way than usual:
I LOVE figure skating! So I often put massive amounts of pressure on myself to succeed and do well. This last weekend, I competed in a big national competition I’d had my heart set on for quite a long time. I’d poured my blood, sweat and tears into it and had spent a HUGE amount of time and money on all the training, costume and practice. I so wanted to do well.
But during my last week of practice, EVERYTHING seemed to be going wrong!! I couldn’t spin, I fell over at EVERY jump and I couldn’t even finish my programme on time. I felt like bambi on ice. Naturally, I panicked!! What was I going to do? I couldn’t go out there in front of all those people, cameras and judges looking like this!
Competition time came but I still felt no better. I almost couldn’t bring myself to drive down to the venue in order to do it. Nonetheless, I went on and skated with all the other girls competing in my category during practice. They seemed SO MUCH MORE confident, fit and flexible than I was. And their spins were amazing!!! I felt like a fish out of water and to tell you the truth, I was quite intimidated.
I went back to my hotel for the night and told my mum all about it. I told her that I just didn’t feel ready, for her not to expect anything and that I didn’t think that I was going to do very well.
I woke up the next day feeling quite deflated and my nerves had mostly disappeared. The pressure was off and I was no longer expecting so much of myself. My mum told me that I didn’t have to skate if I didn’t want to.
But after quite a bit of thought, I told her that at the end of the day, this is what I love to do and even if I’m not able to compete at the same level as everyone else, I wanted to share my love for the sport with everyone out there who had come to see me.
I went back to the venue with A SMILE ON MY FACE and a huge amount of love in my heart. No pressure. My mind set had changed. I just felt happy to be there.
My turn to skate came! My programme was a blur but I remember getting off the ice with a HUGE smile on my face. I had loved every minute of it and I felt amazing!!!! I had almost forgotten that I had been competing until the commentator called the result…
“15.03” and “currently in 2nd place”. 2nd place?? I was shocked! And elated!
My finishing place was 3rd in my category and 4th out of all 27 skaters competing.
Putting ourselves under certain pressures in life (particularly when we’re aiming for success) can be so overwhelming that it can be easy to forget what is really important to us in the first place. For me, I’d forgotten the first reason why I’d put myself forward for this competition. I love figure skating. And I love to share that with other people. Taking away the pressure I’d put on myself of doing so well but instead, exuberayting that love I have for the sport and accepting who I am was what allowed me to do so well.
It turned out that most of my marks had come, not from my technical ability, but from the way I had performed and executed my programme. LOVE had won out.
