Desire

I always say: It's how much you want it. If you want it bad enough, you'll get it. Translating this into reality is, on the other hand, a whole different ball game altogether. This is why the world is raving about Phelps, that crazy swimmer who came away with 8 golds and 7 world records in 1 Olympics. That, in itself, is already a world record. I don't (and can't) swim and I certainly cannot understand why some people get a thrill out of swimming fast. But I guess Phelps saw something in swimming that I didn't and he has become far richer for that. More than the twinkling gold medals, copious amounts of moo-lah (and much more to come) and fawning attention from pretty much every corner of the world, I think it's the desire to achieve and be able to look at himself in the mirror and say: I have done my best and done justice to all the punishing training routines I have subjected myself to in the past x number of years for these Games, that has enabled him to attain this superhuman feat. When I think about the amount of motivation and sheer determination to push his body and more importantly his mind, to swim his best for one race after another, for that one more gold medal, and to set one more world record, my head spins. I seriously cannot fathom how he can muster that much desire in his mind to achieve what he has done in 17 races in 9 days. How does it feel to want something that bad? As he says it: "If you dream your biggest dream, anything is possible. No matter what you set your imagination to, anything can happen." And I guess, if you want it bad enough, you really get it.