How I Became an Olympian and You Can Too

Greetings friendly readers.  I bet you thought I forgot about writing my next blog entry.  I didn’t forget.  I sat down every night to write my next post and then something happened…the Olympics.

Yes, I can say with pride (and maybe a bit of embarrassment) that I watched every night and a few days of the Olympics.  I watched swimming, gymnastics, shot put, golf, triathlon, running.  I watched events that I would never do in real life and wouldn’t even watch if there wasn’t an American gold medal on the line.  I cheered for the Americans.  I cheered for athletes from countries that I may never get to visit.  I listened with interest to the background stories shared by the media.

I will admit that there were a few “shake my head” moments such as the green diving pool, the USA Men’s basketball team, NBC covering a lot of fluff stories instead of real news, and Ryan Lochte’s mishap with the police.  But even with the “really” moments, I kept on watching.  I followed the athletes, felt joy for their families and was proud to be an American.  Overall, I was happy to be a human being who could appreciate the talented athletes who gave up a lot to perfect their craft and then share it with me…sitting in my recliner while eating a snack.  Don’t judge. Some of you were right there with me.

As I watched all those hours of the Olympics, I paid close attention to the swimming.  Then I would go to the pool to swim like they do.  I tried the back stroke.  That was a hoot.  I moved faster just floating than I did flinging my arms over my head.  Now in my defense, I don’t have an Olympic coach on the sidelines telling me what to do.  I am learning by watching the great athletes swim.  Sort of like some of you watch the food network or HGTV to become better cooks or home improvement experts.  Now I don’t sound so weird, do I?

One day while swimming, I was thinking about why I watch the Olympics.  Next I began wondering if I could ever win a gold medal.  Then that thought drifted off to what would be my event.  Finally, as I was watching one of the swim walkers go flying past me, I decided that my Olympic event would be laundry stain removal.  Yes, you read that correctly, stain removal.  I love a good stain challenge and I will work hard to rid a garment of an unsightly stain.  I take pride in getting out a difficult stain.  I am on the U.S.A. Olympic Stain Removal Team.  Have you seen those soccer uniforms?  They need me on their team.

Now that I have discovered my Olympic event, what’s yours?  In what area of your life have you been Tinkering with Success?  We all have gold medal skills.  Share those gifts with your corner of the world.  You never know when the U.S. Olympic Committee may come knocking.