The Olympic closing ceremonies were held this past Sunday with all of the fanfare of Mardi Gras.  It was a celebration of the games, the athletes, the triumphs, and the disappointments. It was also goodbye, to us the viewers who have cheered, cried, and shared in the athletes stories from around the world during the last few weeks.

I enjoyed hearing the back stories of the athletes which made their journey to becoming an Olympic athlete more tangible and compelling. For many of the athletes, the Olympics were a dream born out of a seed of an idea and sprinkled with desire when they were very young. As a young and hopeful dreamer they could not possibly understand or know the road that lay ahead of them. The long hours of training, the injuries, moving away from home to train, and the doubt that always laid doormat in the back of their minds just waiting to sneak out and attack their dream.  As I have written in a previous blog article, the motivation of an Olympic athlete is something to behold. The internal drives that push them to be the best in the world at their sport can inspire even the most cynic of individuals.

I heard on the radio yesterday that people across the globe are sadden by the ending of the Olympics as the athletes were a ray of inspiration in a very dark world. I would agree, even though I do not understand many of the Olympic games, (curling?), I appreciated what they represented and offered to the world. The closing speeches were a call to the young all over the world to aspire to their dreams, to not give up hope. I would add that the call should go out to adults as well whose motivational drives are in survival mode not thriving mode. The seed of your dreams still remain; they just might need a little dusting off.

Susan

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