Aging Well / Kilian Jornet + The Good-Enough Life

“Conquering mountains is an ironic phrase. We are not conquering them. We can never pretend to be fighting nature because we are part of it.” — Kílian Jornet

Mikaela Shiffrin Rules The World By Knowing What She Can't Do →
Two-time Olympic gold medalist and World Cup alpine skier Mikaela Shiffrin is a role model for both young and old athletes. At just 23 years old, she possesses the wisdom of a seasoned veteran. She focuses on the process and the moment, not records, results and accolades. Shiffrin often elects not to race events she'd be favored to win in order to perform at her best in select events.

...she keeps the focus on her abilities, her process, how each run feels.

There is no such thing as an easy win. From the outside, people see the records and stats. As I have said, those numbers dehumanize the sport and what every athlete is trying to achieve. What I see is an enormous mixture of work, training, joy, heartache, motivation, laughs, stress, sleepless nights, triumph, pain, doubt, certainty, more doubt, more work, more training, surprises, delayed flights, canceled flights, lost luggage, long drives through the night, expense, more work, adventure, and some races mixed in there.

The Good-Enough Life →
To fully become good enough is to grow up into a world that is itself good enough, that is as full of care and love as it is suffering and frustration.

...our task is not to make the perfect human society, but rather a good enough world in which each of us has sufficient (but never too many) resources to handle our encounters with the inevitable sufferings of a world full of chance and complexity.

Do we put too much pressure on young athletes? →
Ellie Soutter revealed her potential at the tender age of 16. It was in February two years ago that she won a medal in the snowboard cross event at the European Youth Olympic Winter Festival in Erzurum, Turkey. She came in third on the kardelen slope behind two French athletes, beating rivals from countries with considerably greater winter sport chops. She was Britain’s only medallist and, consequently, its flagbearer at the closing ceremony. Britain’s snowboard cross programme was new and Soutter was its shining light. On the day she turned 18, she died.

Kílian Jornet on Rich Roll Podcast →
There isn't any doubt to Kilian's incredible endurance capabilities. He's made historical marks in ultra running and nordic racing and summited Everest twice in a week. He doesn't do it for the accolades, though humbly admits everyone likes attention. His primary goal is to immerse himself in nature and test his capabilities. Why? Because it makes him happy.

Dark, Dark, Dark, Dark, Dark, Dark →
A gripping first-person account of near crippling anxiety experienced by Olympian and New York Rangers goalie Corey Hirsch. After several years trying to deal with his issues on his own, at times close to suicide, he sought help and was diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder.

But the crazy thing was, once I got on the ice, everything was fine. I was having an amazing year. I went 35-4-5 and was the AHL’s rookie of the year. But off the ice, I was a mess. I was so lonely. I would go home, and I would feel this horrible, unrelenting anxiety. Hanging over me. Hammering on me.

My dark thoughts became more and more crippling. I couldn’t even get out of bed to eat, and I lost a ton of weight. At one point, I was down to about 140 pounds.

I’ve Interviewed 300 High Achievers About Their Morning Routines. Here’s What I’ve Learned. →
Benjamin Spall, author of My Morning Routine, interviewed more than 300 people about their morning routines. In this piece he shares common routines of the successful.

The Keys to Aging Well as an Athlete →
An athlete who is driven from within, who competes primarily for the joy of the sport and against themselves is significantly more likely to adapt their goals to the changes that accompany aging, as opposed to someone who is motivated by external results or recognition.

Searching For Purpose →
Living a purpose-driven life has many benefits, but it can be frustratingly hard to identify what your life’s purpose actually is. It’s not the type of thing that can be pinpointed by merely sitting down with a pen and a journal and ruminating. If it was easy, we’d all know exactly why we’re here and be living in accordance with a defined mission each and every day.

Part of the problem is that we are besieged by messages—from parents, friends, colleagues, advertising agencies, and others—exhorting us to live a certain way; quite possibly a way that is not of your own choosing.

‍