not so zen momma

Derek and I were discussing why we thought so many Olympic athletes are in their "prime" at age sixteen. Is it just a physical reality? Can too many years of high-intensity training just be too hard on the body? Or is it mind over matter? That they just don't know enough about life and experiences to question their ability to set a world record or win a gold medal?

It made me think about my realities at age sixteen. Was I fearless? Did I think I could accomplish anything? I don't have many memories of high school. I didn't have a great experience, and I didn't have a bad experience. My life-stamp for those years is mainly neutral. I just existed, and that was fine with me.

But in retrospect, I did have goals that now seem extraordinary to me. I was captain of my swim team; waking up at 6 am everyday to practice. I even swam two times a day during the summer. I wanted to be the best. I also wanted to be active in performing arts, in fact, I was our school's thespian society president. I never landed the lead in the school play, but I did cut off all my hair for a role in Playing for Time. I was dedicated... devoted.

Investigating that youthful intensity is interesting to me. What would sixteen-year-old Brooke think of me now? Honestly, I think she would be content. With that past intensity came a lot of disappointment, stress, and unrest. She would be proud of my ability to create a peaceful family lifestyle, and wonder how writing became the center of my career. She would probably chastise me about the extra pounds and inability to get into the pool, and perhaps I can use her "motivation" to start getting up at 6 am again.

Which reminds me of a Wired story, "What Kind of Genius Are You?," I read a couple of years ago that examined people's major accomplishments in conjunction with their age. They found an interesting pattern, some extraordinary people are destined for a lot of success very early, and some other equally extraordinary people garner success over a long periods of time. It is all so random. What else can explain forty-one-year-old swimmer Dara Torres? Or a fourteen-year-old diver Tom Daley?