Always Believe You Can And Yes, You Will: A Champion’s Vibe!

Read the title, close your eyes, and then visualize what a champion looks like to you.  Before you read further, think about your vision for a minute.  What did your vision depict?  Brute strength, someone with mental toughness, an Olympic gold medalist, your favourite team winning or a regular person just grinding through life?

Who was your champion?  An athlete, a parent, child or even you?  There is no right or wrong answer(s) and what you believe a champion to be can change too depending on where you are in your life and just life events in general.

The simplest definition from Wiki –

• A champion is the victor in a challenge, contest,or competition.

Dictionary.com has similar definitions and they go deeper – I’ll let you click the link and read on your own, but I want to dive more into it from a real-life perspective.

So yes, a champion is the winner, the victor, the holder of all the belts and I’ll tell you it feels amazing to get your hand raised fight after fight knowing that all you put in paid off.  People are cheering, your social media is blowing up and there are fans and friends coming out of the woodworks to congratulate you.  The part or parts nobody sees is what I’m talking about.

I’ll step away from sports for a minute.  Back in my event & sponsorship days – a part of my corporate life I really loved and enjoyed – man did I put on some amazing events and programs with the teams and agencies I collaborated with.   Event day all people see is the cool stuff, the shiny new stage with the flawless designs, colour, lights, and beautiful people who are smiling and welcoming everyone.  That is how it should be, but I always used to say: “if ya’ll only knew what blood, sweat and sometimes tears went into this night….”

Back then, post event was my champ moment.  That feeling of accomplishment and then going through the results.  Feedback from guests, my higher ups and the team, attendance, engagement, sales, and more were all great metrics but, knowing the hurdles, obstacles and many, many times, setback after setback that was thrown at me/us, the team still came out on top.  Always.  That’s victorious.

To get more real.  My mom beat cancer twice.  She literally kicked its ass and recently she was discharged from the cancer center, permanently.  We saw her at her highs and lows during the process, both times but the bottom line is that she never gave up.  We had a good support network of both our family as well as close friends, but she did the work.  She endured and persevered and for her, defeat was not an option which is a mantra shared by a charity very near and dear to many.  So my visual includes my mom and people like my mom who have fought through this disease and others, whether they lost their battle or survived through it.

In 2013 I fought my first sanctioned bout.  A fundraising event for the annual Fight to End Cancer.  The fighters are the entertainment at a black-tie gala event with proceeds going to the Princess Margarete Cancer Foundation.  The fighters, in addition to raising their own dollars for the event, go through six months of rigorous training and having experienced it, getting into shape to step into the ring as well as learning a new sport is no easy feat.  When I talk to the alumni, we all say the same thing.  The training and the fight itself is nothing compared to what anyone fighting cancer is going through.  Real life heroes and everyone stepping into the ring that night – champions!

I also envision the single mom or single parent.  Juggling a job(s) and maybe their own continuing education or side hustle while raising kids, managing their schedules all while the world may criticize how you do things takes heart, grit, strength, resilience, and discipline – all traits of a champion in my opinion.

A while ago one of my personal training clients showed up to a session.  A single mom of two little guys.  I could tell that morning that she was flustered, upset, had been crying or hadn’t slept or both.  I never pry but my gut told me that she didn’t need a rigorous workout but needed someone to talk to.  About 10 minutes in the floodgates open and she shared.  All I did was listen, gave her a hug, and told her that she was a champ for all she was doing, by herself for herself and her kids.  We talked a little and worked a little but at the end of the session she admitted to feeling better and realized that it was ok to release like she did occasionally – also champ vibes if you ask me.

There’s the alcoholic or drug addict who decided it was time to sober up and more importantly, stay sober.  As they go through the steps, they realize that it’s getting through the dark moments without slipping up that’s the real win, the real flex.  They push through those hard days and what gets them through is their “why”.  Whether it’s their kids, partner, work, themselves, or all of the above they keep pushing through.  One such individual is my true hero.  A champ of champs and an inspiration to me daily.  Celebrating sobriety four years now and still doing life with all its colourful good days and real shit show days, this person keeps going.  I can’t talk about or think about champions and not have this individual come to mind who has been part of most of my life, one of my biggest cheerleaders, my best friend and someone I call family.  I know you’re reading, and I love you.  You inspire me daily.

So listen, after all my stories let’s go back to the beginning.  Who or what makes a champion?

A champion is the one who doesn’t give up.  The one who doesn’t hit the snooze button in the morning because it’s cold out and they must get a run in as part of their training.  They are the ones who get knocked down time after time after time BUT they get up and they get up fast only to say, “let’s fucking goooo!”

She’s the one who has to find her inner Wonder Woman to get through the day because between kids, husband, school, and business, she’s spread so thin and not sure she’ll make it.  He’s the one who got knocked out, lost all his belts and titles but went back to the drawing board with a comeback far greater than his setback.  It’s the person who doesn’t quit, the person who shines through the darkness and the one who thrives despite the hand they got dealt.

Remember – if you can visualize your dream or goal, say it out loud and then work towards getting there, your mind is already on the right path.  The body will follow.

I’ll leave you with a quote from one of my favourite sports psychology reads – How Champions Think by Dr. Bob Rotella.  He quoted this from one of his role models and I think it’s profound…and true:

“PEOPLE TEND TO BECOME WHAT THEY THINK ABOUT THEMSELVES”