Sixteen-year-old gymnast and Olympic gold medalist Laurie Hernandez is on the new season of Dancing With The Stars. After her first dance of the competition on Monday night, host Tom Bergeron asked the seasoned performer if she was nervous to do the show. She replied that after working eleven years to achieve her Olympic goals she is thinking of her Dancing experience as a “congratulation jog”.
Her response caused me to think how we should all have the opportunity to take that victory lap after years of working hard, raising our children, taking care of our elderly parents. This is what I once perceived retirement to be but anymore it is obvious to me that although that is still a possibility, there is no longer the guarantee I had expected. As we push forward towards that brass ring, so much can happen to threaten that future that seemed so seamless and easy for our parents. Is it a case of times truly have changed or were we just unaware of our parents’ struggles to get to the land of golf and gardening and travel?
The answer is most likely a combination of the two. I am sure that every generation has felt like this and we certainly know that the world in which we live is constantly changing. So how should we position our “congratulation jog” as we look ahead? We all want it and we all deserve it but there are so many things we cannot control no matter how much we plan and put safeguards in place.
In consideration of my own question the only thing I can come up with is a cliche, which I swear on all that I love I did not want to be the case. The solution: Enjoy your celebratory (insert activity here)* every chance you get. Don’t wait for the big and the bold that may never come. Observe the small and the quiet. As a teenage girl from New Jersey taught me: Win, then dance.
* Disclaimer: Unless you are actually Laurie Hernandez, this blog recommends you refrain from vaulting, uneven parallel bars and balance beam. A somersault or two may be executed at your discretion, at no liability to this blog or its blogger.
