My wonderful cousin, Ann, gave me the idea of starting this blog. (Thank you, Ann!) I thought it was a great idea! I immediately got on this website and created an account. But as soon as I logged on for the first time, I hesitated. This blog meant that people who are close to me will see that I have a dream, which is to one day make it to the Olympics. BUT if I never make it to the Olympics, everyone will see that I failed.
I think I've always been afraid of failure. In grade 9, I ran for the position of Junior Mayor on the student council. I really put a lot of effort into the campaign and in the end I failed. After that, I decided never to put myself in such a vulnerable position again. I can see how my fear snuck its way into such simple, everyday things. This might be a silly example.. but when playing the drums, I would have this ongoing struggle in my mind (while playing the song). One part of me wanted to play a difficult fill that would probably sound cool and the other part of me wanted to play it safe with a simple fill. And when it came time, I would almost always play it safe. Whenever I did go for that cooler sounding, more difficult fill, I hesitated and got off beat... failure.
In so many aspects of my life, I self-limited myself because I was afraid I would fail.
When talking about archery with friends, I would often hear things like, "cool! What do you want to do with archery? Go to the Olympics?" I would always reply with a safe answer.. "mm yeah maybe, we'll see." Yep, I would give a safe answer while on the inside, I knew SO clearly that my answer should have been a solid, "YES!"
So, I'm trying to be brave and I'm letting everyone in. I'm letting you follow along my journey to achieving my dreams even with a lot of uncertainty as to whether I'll actually achieve them or not. Even the URL to my blog http://koreatolondon tells everyone about my aspirations. So now, I'm putting myself "out there". I feel vulnerable but at the same time, I feel liberated.
Whether or not I make it to the Olympics is an insignificant detail. If I fail, I'll accept that. But I'll be content with the fact that I was brave enough to try.
I guess there's no better way to end this post than with a cheesy quote..
"Accomplishments will prove to be a journey, not a destination." - Dwight D. Eisenhower
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YAY VANESSA!
ReplyDeletefighting! i knew it, ever since you first picked up your bow.. i smell success~~ ^_______^
hello super star =D thanks for sharing all this. I'm encouraged to see so much progress from you since the beginning!
ReplyDeleteVanessa ^-^
ReplyDeleteHi, it's me, your umma!!!
I just love your dedication for archery, which you love soooo much...
Yes!! You can succeed... appa, umma and unny will always be praying for you and your dream.
Hey Vanessa!
ReplyDeleteJUST DO IT!! XD I'll be watching the Olympics on tv some day and be like "Hey I know her! I met her at the airport!". Good luck with achieving your goal! =)
Hello Vanessa,
ReplyDeleteThank you for writing your blog and for taking the chance at failure. I've always felt that the greatest regret isn't failure unto itself, but the failure to even try.
I'm an archery coach of a small club in Georgia, USA and our club is about 50% boys and 50% girls. We'll be routing you on in success and failure as well.
"Never, never, never, never give up." - Winston Churchill
Take care.
Hello Vanessa!
ReplyDeleteI'm from Hungary. It is a middle country in Europe. So,Ii started to read your blog just now, and I am enjoy it a lot! Sorry for my poor english :)
So, I have a same dream like You. I hope, we will meet in London 2012 on the archery field! And so, why not before the Olympics, on an Word Cup? :)
I hope so!
I like so mutch your videos, I'm so interested in korean archer's life :) Please don't stop it!
:)
Val