Paradise is not a place

Yesterday morning we ended our long Winter Challenge with a final step class at 8.00.  32 members pitched and we really ended this 12-week journey on a high note!  I wonder if that`s how Sir Edmund Hillary felt the day he reached the top of Everest, or Neil Armstrong when he landed on the moon.

A mixture of pride, relief, and exhaustion – I`m sure that`s how every Challenge member felt on Saturday, realizing that they have accomplished their mission.  This one has not been easy, with additional Challenges like an extremely cold winter, the third wave of Covid and a twee week lockdown right in the middle of our fitness Challenge…

But here we are – 56 members managed to finish successfully, and I cannot be prouder.  Watch this space – this week all our winners will be announced, and I will dedicate next week`s Blog to all of them… 🏆

After step class on Saturday, while I was standing in line in Woolworths, I saw a guy wearing the most interesting t-shirt.  It read:

“Kimo`s Hawaiian life rules to live by:

1. Never judge a day by the weather
2. The best things in life aren`t moments
3. Tell the truth – there`s less to remember
4. Speak softly and wear a loud shirt
5. Goals are deceptive – the unaimed arrow never misses
6. He who dies with the most toys – still dies
7. Age is relative – when you`re over the hill, you pick up speed
8. There are two ways to be rich – make more or desire less
9. Beauty is internal – looks mean nothing
10. No rain – no rainbows”

And no, I didn`t memorize it, I Googled it when I got home, because it just caught my imagination.  Or maybe it`s this whole thing of not being able to travel to exotic destinations.  I don`t know – I was just curious to know a bit more…

Before Eswee and Mariné were born, Schalk and I had our fair share of travelling – we have visited Greece, Mauritius, Seychelles and Comoros, and a few years ago we as a family had the privilege to return to the Greek Islands.  There is just something about island living that is inspiring on a whole different level.  And it`s about much more than white sand and crystal clear water…

I have never been to Hawaii, but I`m not surprised that someone managed to write a set of happiness rules for that idyllic tropical island – travel writers say that in Hawaii the clouds seem to hang lower in the sky, maybe because Hawaii is a little closer to heaven than most places…😊

Apparently, everything in Hawaii seems simpler, purer.  Even the Hawaiian alphabet has only 12 letters!  Where the Hawaiian rules for happiness come from, no one is absolutely sure – but it seems they were written years ago by a native named Kimo.

Why has it intrigued me so much?   Maybe because we`ve all been caught up in so much negativity the last few months.  Reading those 10 simple rules yesterday just brought a bit of lightheartedness to my spirit!

During the past twelve weeks my members and I really miraculously managed to not judge the days by the weather, (yes, of course I complained about the cold, duh!), but time and again I experienced how we all just decided to have great days regardless the cold, simply by deciding.

The best things in life ARE INDEED not things, but moments.  And deciding to embrace them.  Getting an unexpected call from Mariné, being playfully lifted into the air by Eswee, watching Bailey dash through his brand-new little doggie door, sharing a special moment with Schalk, experiencing the creativeness of my Challenge members in a Mini-Challenge! 

We don`t all have to wear t-shirts with slogans, like the guy in Woolies, to make our actions speak louder than our words.  Maybe we should all just be a little less concerned about what others think!  If we can`t have fun, what`s the point?

The fifth of Kimo`s happiness rules, is an interesting one – “Goals are deceptive – the unaimed arrow never misses.”  I think there are quite a few of my Challenge members who would argue strongly against this rule – simply because so many of them regularly set there aims high during a Challenge with concrete goals and then smashing those goals.

But there have been quite a few who, in this Challenge, have proved Kimo`s exact theory correct – members who have signed up for the Challenge, relaxed, did everything for the joy of it, and vóila, ended up reaching their ultimate best body stats.  Maybe Kimo just wanted to remind us not to take everything so seriously, and have a little fun with our goals, too.

In the end, life is about being, not having.  As Steve Jobs famously stated recently: “Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn`t matter to me…Going to bed at night saying we`ve done something wonderful…that`s what matters to me.”

“Amen” and “Hallelujah” to the “picking up speed when you`re over the hill part”!  Need I say more?  The point is, where we are in life at this moment is what counts, because we have no idea when our “over the hill” is.  All we can do today is choose to make the most of every single day we receive as a gift.

Regarding the 8^th Hawaiian happiness rule of desiring less to be ultimately rich, I think the past year has taught all of us that we can survive with less, and still be rich.  We have learned that family matters most, that self-care is not self-indulgence, and that exercise makes a big difference.  Not surprising to read that 60,7 percent of Hawaiians exercise frequently, is it…?

No rain – no rainbows?  I know, none of us want adversity.  But growth doesn`t happen in times when life is easy.  Life is not always chocolate ice cream and kisses.  Without struggle there is no progress, without something negative we can`t celebrate the positive.

And it’s okay to work for that pot of gold. But sometimes it’s just as okay to take time off and to make sure that your most important decision in the day simply consists of choosing which colour to slide down on the rainbow.

Paradise is not Hawaii or Mauritius.  Paradise is not even a place, it`s here, or nowhere.  We must take our joy with us, or we will never find it.

Yours in fitness

Mirna

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