Often, I am met with comments from other endurance athletes of concern on behalf of a family member about their decision to pursue their passions. I am not a father, nor am I married, but I do have concerned family members. It’s like my mother has said – “I understand the need to help others and the great work that has been done, but why does it have to be my son?”
If not me – than who?
I can understand the concern on behalf of a spouse – especially with a family. I think it is pretty awesome that we have developed a passion for endurance sports, and to do it to help the less fortunate is the best gift you can give. Set an example for your son or daughter – be a role model. Others won’t understand what we do because it is not ‘normal’ to them. What is normal? Living a life where we ‘play it safe’ everyday, only to have something like cancer, a vehicle collision or falling off a ladder take us down? I had a friend joke with me one time – “You’ve swum the oceans of the world, but watch you’ll choke on a hot dog at the ballgame.”
Life is not about the quantity of the years, but the quality. We all have a much better chance of driving down the street and into a wreck than something happening on a marathon swim.
I don’t look at these adventures like a risk, because when you see all the messed up things going on in this world, I think our journey is pretty damn amazing when you compare it to some of the lame, mediocre, monotonous ways that people live their lives – especially in fear of the unknown. My biggest fear is regret. I don’t ever want to be old and gray, laying there in my final hour wishing I had done something else in my life. I’m not going out that way. Be remembered for something amazing, something good – don’t let your family remember you as someone who just ‘got through life’ like the rest of society. That’s not a role model. They might not understand it now, but they will someday. It is better to die on your feet, than live on your knees.