Remember your Inner Child
Somewhere behind the athlete you've become, the practices, the coaches who pushed you, the meets you've competed in, the long time dedication, and the friendships you made along the way, there's a little girl who just thought it would be fun to fly.
Do you know her anymore?
Can you even remember her?
The little girl, mesmerized
By the leaping, the tumbling, the swinging.
Watching the older girls' every move.
Wide-eyed.
The little girl
Who was so fearless,
Willing to do whatever it took
To be just like them.
Well, now you are one of them.
But she's not.
She's still that same little girl.
You made it.
Good job.
Along the way, though,
She got lost.
Lost in all the competition.
Lost in the fear of new tricks.
All of a sudden
A hard worker replaced the free dreamer.
Admiration became competition.
Just wanting it wasn't enough.
Flight didn't just happen,
It was precise and calculated.
And that scared her away.
And you let her go.
Maybe you even forgot her.
You had new friends,
Learned a good work ethic.
Dreaming stopped being important.
But it shouldn't have.
The dreamer and the worker
Don't have to be separate.
They are even more powerful united.
Find that little girl in you again.
The one who just wants to fly,
The one who isn't afraid to let go,
And be all she can, do all she can.
She's there.
She's waiting for you.
She will never grow older, wiser, stronger, better.
But you can, and will.
She needs you,
Almost as much as you need her.
Find her.
Hold her close.
Let her live through you.
Do all your new skills with her.
Fly for her.
I wrote this for the girls on my gymnastics team. I'm the oldest and they treat me like an unofficial captain. I remember what they were like, what I was like, when we were young gymnasts because I also coach. Sometimes when we're growing up so fast, we need to look back for inspiration.