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Solid Yellow Lines

On our roads and highways we are given guidelines. A literal
solid line is implemented along the pavement’s edges and centre upon which we
travel bridges and sharp curves. This simple line is designed to help keep us
on the right track; it defines our physical parameters.

In order to navigate my current roads, on a daily basis, it is
essential that I hunt for those edges and centre points: physically, mentally,
and emotionally. And while I’m no stranger to the place where real life and
dreams collide – the weight of this year has already begun to test my strength.
Where exactly are the solid yellow lines? How am I to know if I’ve truly
pushed the edge? Why does it sometimes feel as if my compass is on the fritz?
Because despite a lack of creepy-humanoid GPS voice, our routes often require
“re-calculating”. U-turns and back roads start to blend together and from time
to time it seems tough to steer home.
The reality is, life doesn’t always materialize with such
explicit lines. Which means, it’s on us to create those edges; to find just how
far we can go – before we’re able to say for certain – we can go no further.



At present, my team and I are about to round out our first eight
weeks of 2013/14 off-season training. We have been punching, kicking, dead lifting, jumping and crawling our
way through heavy, technical sessions. More than ever before I can feel my body
and mind adapting to the adjustments and anticipating errors in order to achieve the smallest of angles or hone the most explosiveness in larger movements.

That being said, I was recently captured on video … pushing to find those
aforementioned edges:

So yes, sometimes those yellow lines are tough to see, but we reach for them. And when we fall – we celebrate, because there
is beauty in the realization that the seemingly “missing” yellow lines
are in fact more tangible than we tend to first acknowledge.

Our most prominent solid yellow lines are often the people we surround ourselves with.
They are in the team who share our struggles and successes, they
shine through the individuals with whom we instantly connect; they are the strangers
who give a gentle smile or as simple as a familiar and reassuring hug from family. These
markers ensure that our progress is always in a forward momentum – especially when it swings back, they encourage our every step and catch our attention when we occasionally veer off course.

We discover these lines around us, and we become these lines for others. 
In keeping with this same theme, seeing the endless mass
of overwhelming photos, videos and reports  – the devastation that has washed through the City of Calgary
and surrounding areas has undoubtedly caused a wide array of people and groups to
start wondering if they’ve lost sight of their solid yellow lines. But remember, “No rain; no rainbows.” The incredible local heros and entire communities rebuilding together,
small acts of kindness and the endless support of thousands will ultimately
bring the reflective lines back into the light and very quickly, there will be no more sense of ‘strangers’ at all.
Case in point: I Woke Up and Calgary Was Flooded 
Through the ramblings of these posts I am relentlessly searching the
inner workings of my mind in situations that never cease to amaze me; in doing so, I sneak past that timid inner-voice  … and I
do my best to share with you, the reader, a little bit of my heart. Because the
truth is, it doesn’t matter if you are going after an Olympic dream of taking on
the world, or rebuilding your own world from the bottom up … there’s
something to be said about simply believing in your future self.

Press play, don’t press pause.