7 Things that keep me going.

And yet again, I'm still alive. I've been training a notorious amount in order to try to advance to a more competitive level this year. Therefore, I have less time to work on my school/blog. So today I'll list some of the major things that have kept me going even when the depression sets in.

1) Adrian Liu has only been training since he was 20. He is now the best doubles player in Canada. Not bad.

2) Lin Dan was not good enough to be on the National team in China when he was young. He played on the military team until he got so good they had no choice but to throw him onto the National team.

3) One of my coaches, Ronne, made the Indonesian National team when he was about 21. This was at a time when Indos would advance to national team at the ages of about 15-18. If they didn't make it then, they would quit and have to start careers. Everyone had told him it was too late, and he believed in himself and proved them all wrong. This leads to Number 4 on my list...

4) "You must have a Dream, You must have Passion, and You must have Action! And anything is possible."
This is Ronne's famous quote from my club. He has told me this so many times it will be forever burned into my mind, forcing me to carry on.

5) My Mother was a gymnast on the Canadian National team when she was young. She suffered a career ending injury when she was about 14 and had to quit. She tried to convince her Parents and Doctors that it was okay if she injured it further competing, because she wanted to compete so incredibly bad. This is one of the things that make my mother so relate-able to me now. I have a sickening passion for my sport, much like she did for hers.

6) My father doesn't seem like a super interesting guy when you first meet him. But he has one of the deepest most complex personalities out of most of the people I have met in my life. He dreamed of flying ever since he was a boy, and it didn't seem like he would ever fly in the way he wanted to. He finally decided to take action and learned something called Paragliding. It's basically like jumping off a high cliff with a parachute type thing but instead of bringing you down, it lets you fly for around an hour or two. I've never seen my father happier than when he comes down from a flight. Him attaining his goal and showing the joy it brings inspires me to meet my goals and share that feeling.

7) Myself
 I'm not like the majority of the population. I am not happy with studying and practicing in schools so I can get into a good post-secondary institute and get a good job. I would rather find my own way in this world, choosing the paths less traveled by most. I have never felt so strongly about anything in my life than my sport. Even a bad day playing badminton is still a wicked awesome day for me. I can't imagine what kind of person I would be without badminton. It is who I am, who I want to be, and what I want to do. Every hour of every day. I confess, I often don't bother with my school work so I can spend more time training or watching badminton videos at home.
  I would like to end my hopefully-somewhat-inspiring post today with a quote from the since deceased visionary Steven Paul Jobs:

"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life."