don simon - Member
"But it's about choice and being happy with your choice and if you are making sacrifices then I guess you regret your choice."
Nope. You don't have to regret the choice, you just have to wish you hadn't had to make it. You can make the right choice, know it's the right choice, and still know what you've given up.
My wife would stay at work though, so don s isn't the only weirdo
Thanks, I think. 😉
Oh OK then Singlespeedstu, I'd picked you up wrong, I thought your changing priorities were something that forced you to give it up, rather than you just not wanting to do it any more.
Looking back now, I reckon what I sacrificed in order to be very good at sport was having any friends. Didn't have the time to maintain the friends I had when I got seriously into training hard - unfortunately now I have a family and no longer have time to train hard (and have also slowed down and hence lost motivation) I still don't have any friends, and have no idea how to get any of the sort I once had.
Does that count as a real sacrifice (not that I was ever as good or dedicated as the people being referred to)?
Those sacrifices are made by the likes of John "The Brave" Terry. Poor things.
I think the sacrifice comes from the people who do the training and only just make it to the top of their sport.
A friend of mines brother is a top triathlete, he has a rediculous training schedule from what I understand (he's in [url= http://www.britishtriathlon.org/triathlonengland/news/article.php?id=7076 ]this list as one of the national starters[/url]) and is currently at Loughborough uni, he must be in his third year now.
I haven't seen or spoken to him for a year or so, so things may have changed. But he was there doing his degree work whilst training 7+ times a week. He rarely goes out to socialise, the one time he did choose to attend a social function (May have been a booze up but he doesn't drink, at least he didn't) rather than one of his many races (I think it was a national race) he got heavily chastised by his coach and his parents. He has basically lost a huge part of his life to concentrate on his chosen sport.
It doesn't pay well (He does get a lot of kit for free, but it's not the same as recienving a wage you can choose to spend how you wish). So he is supported very happily by his parents, I am sure he would get a part time job if he had the time.
Despite all of his training and the dedication he has put into this sport since well before I knew him, he is unfortunately always just outside the top 3 in the country. What this means is he doesn't get enough funding to really make it his lifes work, ie replace a job, but he quite rightly feels that if he just keeps at it he'll get there in the end.
If he does and becomes a pro athlete I am sure he will be seen right. But in the meantime he is plugging away self funded, self motivated - giving up other opportunities, not living a normal lfe at uni and in the end it may (I do hope not) all be for nothing.
He doesn't see it as a sacrifice, he is motivated and knows what he wants.
I see all the things he is not giving himself the opportunity to do and I call that a sacrifice.
I think my point is that the individual will never see anything they does as a sacrifice merely a choice, it is those who follow and assess their achievements who consider the choices they have made as sacrifices.
To use a painfully obvious and seasonally appropriate example, Christ had a choice, he could have just left everyone to it and been a happy carpenter. But, he made a choice - which was also a sacrifice.
is that from the Fast Show??
Nobody put a gun to his head to make him get up at 4am, so it's his choice and therefore something he would prefer to do other things as the rewards of success are worth the effort. Where's the sacrifice? I think some folks are putting their values onto others and come up with sacrifice...
A genuinley interesting debate
But can we agree that if you only stick to your training schedule because some one threatens to shoot you then that definaitly isn't sacrifice as you didn't have a choice
I think we all agree that whatever sacrifice is it envolves choice. on the part of the person making the choice
Another colleague avoided a life time of dialysis by there mum giving up a kidney. Sacrifice? Or just doing what you want to be happy? I mean it not like anyone forced them....
You're clearly all missing the reality.
Do you think top athletes get that good by boring training and diet and not going down the pub?
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That's Chris Hoy on the right, David Beresford in the middle and the bloke lying on the stone is Floyd Landis.
As others have alluded to: It all comes down to your values and priorities. Take someone like Tom Daley: Going by what the media would term "a normal life", he is sacrificing alot, but I would doubt he would see it that way. He would look at the highs that it brings him and be glad of the choices he/his parents have made.
However, I would guess that at times where he is feeling low (which I would imagine comes with all the hard training), then he may see it as a bit of a sacrifice, due to the fact that he doesn't live in a bubble, and must be aware of this "normal life" thing that people go on about.
i've set myself the target of running the sheffield half marathon in 1hr:30min next year.
i know i can do it, but the training won't be pleasant. it'll mean doing fewer things i enjoy*, and more things i don't enjoy**.
(*riding after work, eating pies, having a lie in on a sunday if i want to)
(**running home from work - sometimes in the dark/cold/rain)
the word 'compromise' doesn't really fit...
You can make the right choice, know it's the right choice, and still know what you've given up.
Sums it it well IMO.
Another colleague avoided a life time of dialysis by there mum giving up a kidney. Sacrifice? Or just doing what you want to be happy? I mean it not like anyone forced them....
That shouldn't be a sacrifice as it is, I imagine, something you want to do. Donating your heart on the other hand!! Or more seriously, undergoing a life threatening procedure to help another would hint at sacrifice, or a procedure which leaves you less than 100% complete.
So, it would seem that the athlete doesn't perceive that they are making sacrifices, just choosing another way of life. And, from my point of view, if you feel you have made sacrifices, you should either change your point of view or change your life. Adios 😉