Finding your inspiration
I’m a big sports fan. More importantly, I’m a huge baseball fan. I like other sports as well, but baseball comes first. Even during the offseason, I’m following all the blogs and keeping up on the transactions and counting down the days to spring training.
I’m also an Atlanta Braves fan! I have been since I was 3 or 4 years old and my Dad was watching a baseball game on tv and I asked him who was playing. I honestly don’t even remember the other team, I just remember they were wearing blue and when he told me their name, I said, “OK, that’s going to be my favorite team.” I didn’t know much about the game at that point, but I soon grew to love the game.
Through the years, I also grew to somewhat like the New York Mets as well. I was raised in Chesapeake, VA, very close by to where the Tidewater Tides, then the re-named Norfolk Tides played as the AAA affiliate for the Mets. I’d see Darryl Strawberry, Dwight Gooden, Kevin McReynolds, Gregg Jefferies, Howard Johnson, Kevin Elster, Mookie Wilson, and Jason Isringhausen (just to name a few) come through that ballpark while playing for the Tides. I’d seen many other players come through on other teams’ rosters. It was really neat to turn on a major league game and see a batter step into the batter’s box and think “Hey, I just saw him live last week in the minors.”
Then, as I got into my teens, there was realignment in the divisions and all of a sudden, the Braves and Mets were in the same division. My heart still belonged to the Braves. The funny thing there is, my dad remained a Mets fan, so there developed a healthy rivalry between us that stands to this day.
Fast forwarding to present day and the 2011 playoff push, the Braves stand poised to jump into the postseason this year with a strong roster and plenty of fight that appears it may take them a long way. They didn’t necessarily look this strong through the first half of the season. A few players had dominating stats in the first half and made their push to appear on the All-Star roster. Those that did make it, showed why they certainly belonged there.
It wasn’t until later, just a few weeks removed from the annual all-star game, that the Braves really started to come together. Unfortunately, it came at the cost of some injured players. My timeline here may not be 100% accurate, but that’s not the point. It’s the small little factors that came together for the end result. Nate McLouth suffered an injury, as did another outfielder (Martin Prado), which eventually led to the Braves calling up Jose Constanza. Dan Uggla broke out of his season long slump, batting .173 and put together a 33 game hitting streak and hitting 15 homers during that streak as well. As a result of Uggla’s hot bat, the looming trade deadline shifted the team’s focus on who they would acquire. That transaction was landing former Houston Astros’ centerfielder, Michael Bourn. The combination of Constanza and Bourn in the lineup together has given the Braves an opportunity that they’ve lacked for many years – the ability to manufacture runs. The Braves haven’t really had a good lead-off threat that can steal bases since Otis Nixon.
All of these little things, though, have come together and created the aura of a winning team. Was it Uggla? Was it Constanza? Was it Bourn? The pitching has, all of a sudden, been pretty lights out lately, too!
My whole point here is, something just gelled for them. There was one little spark, then another, then another. Sure, it’s baseball, and anything can happen, but it takes all those little factors coming together to make everything work just right.
For me, it all started when I saw a picture and got thoroughly disgusted with myself. I’d had a few seeds planted in my head by friends’ status updates. I can pinpoint, though, it was seeing that picture of myself. Then it was the combination of Beachbody’s free online tools and seeing the scale go down that kept working for me. Then it was my free coach from Beachbody who kept encouraging me and giving me little tips on how to improve. Then it was my clothes being too big for me to wear anymore and looking in the mirror and seeing the overall size of my body shrinking. These were all the factors that came together and have made me successful in changing my lifestyle to create a healthier me!
What’s your why? What’s your inspiration to get you going? What will bring you to the brink of making that decision and taking the leap of faith to better yourself?
I’ll even give you a headstart. Click here and you can jump ahead to that free account to take advantage of the free tools and start receiving the free coaching. That’s two steps ahead of where I was able to start. It doesn’t matter if you’re doing P90X, Insanity, Asylum, TurboFire or some other Beachbody program, this is a free head start for you. I’d love to help you on your way!
