During this years Tour de France Bradley Wiggins was interviewed and asked if he had a message for his family. He replied "...i do it for them, i couldn't do it without them..."
That got me thinking why do we do the things we do in hectic and crammed schedules? For Bradley Wiggins he can genuinely say that he "...does it for them..." because it's his job. Is that what he meant though because he then went further to say that "...I couldn't do it without them..." which could be more like the truth.
When someone asks me what i did on a weekend i may tell them that on Sunday morning i was on the road at 7am for a couple of hours on the bike followed by a run of anything up to an hour. The next question is always the same
"why?"
I'm not sure of the answer! I'd love to be able to say i do it for my family, that it was my job but sadly that ship has sailed! (Not that it was ever in dock!!)
So the answer has to be i do it for me. There's a number of facets to that answer; I do it for a challenge, for the camaraderie, for the banter, for the competition, to feel good, to be a positive influence on my kids, for health (i'm diabetic and training helps with blood sugar control), to have a diversion, i do it so that my life where i spend so much time sat down does not catch up with me! All of these contribute to me and making me content.
In our busy lives there's all this talk of people having 'me time' - personally i hate that phrase. It seems contrived and indulgent to me. It's more a case of knowing what you want to do and making it happen. That could be anything - an hour reading a book, having your hair done, reading a paper in a cafe, going shopping, a run, a bike ride, a swim - absolutely anything. We should be able to do what we want in context of our responsibilities, it will make us feel good and therefore better to be with and live with.
That's what i think is meant by "...i could't do it without them..." To take of for hours doing what you want to do there's a trade off - something else you could or should be doing? Whether it be cutting the grass, sleeping, having lunch or spending time with your family. To be able to take off you need the family behind you - literally, you couldn't do it without them.
It was interesting to hear a professional athlete talk that way. It was at the end of a stage and so in exhaustion his guard was down - he must be well rewarded for what he does but the demands of cycling are so high that he genuinely could not do it without them. When training involves hours and hours each day you need support behind you to keep normal life ticking over.
Triathlon, ironman, ultramarathons etc all require a significant investment of time and and therefore a trade off and/or the support of those around you. The vast majority of us are not paid for what we do. It actually costs a fortune too - kit, entry fees, hotels, transportation etc - but still we do it.
The why? is, in my opinion, selfish and that is fine so long as everybody knows what's going on and is OK with it! If the why? for me keeps me happy then that cannot be a bad thing can it?
