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Aspire
Eric Belliveau • February 1, 2017

What is it that you aspire to do this year? I’m not talking about a New Year’s Resolution. What I’m talking about is something bigger, something that you’ve always wanted to do and have just been waiting for the right time to go for it.

A few years ago, I was lucky enough (yes, lucky enough) to receive a qualifying slot for the IRONMAN World Championship. Until that day in St. Croix, when I received a re-allocated slot for the mother of all IRONMAN races, I had never aspired to do one.

Seriously.

I knew it would require a huge commitment to do it well. The training time and investment, financially and mentally, was more than I felt capable of giving. I needed to invest a handful of years to prepare for the IRONMAN without short changing myself or the athletes I coached. If you’ve spent any time around me, you know that halfway isn’t acceptable. If I’m going to do something, it’s going to be done to the very best of my ability and quite honestly, doing anything halfway is bullshit.

Crossing the IRONMAN World Championship finish line was a once in a lifetime experience. It’s been over two years and I haven’t once felt the pull to return to IRONMAN mode. Training, and racing, for triathlons is very much a piece of me, but making a commitment to swim 2.4 miles, bike 112 miles, and run 26.2 miles in one day takes commitment to a whole new level. Some triathletes can rip off several “Fulls” in one season, or at least one a year. I haven’t wanted to until now. Two years has been long enough and the time is right. What once was never an aspiration of mine is now pulling me back to the days of long solo training rides with the intent of crossing the IRONMAN finish line. This time, the finish line will be at IRONMAN Mont-Tremblant on August 20th, 2017.

So there it is; I’ve written it down, delivered it in a blog, and let you in on one of my biggest and most ambitious goals. Crossing the finish line in good health and with a smile on my face should be enough of a goal. And yet, there’s this:

Qualify For Kona Again
Everytime I see this image a ripple of fear runs through me, not because I’m incapable but because I’m afraid of failing.

Qualify for Kona again. It’s more than ambitious, it’s crazy. It honestly scares the hell out of me.

Everytime I see this image a ripple of fear runs through me, not because I’m incapable but because I’m afraid of failing. Failing to qualify, or placing close enough for a possible roll down slot, that is one of my biggest fears.

Fear is what holds many people back from even having dreams and ambitions. I’ve felt it. It has stopped me dead in my tracks. My brain knows I need to move forward but I can’t. Fear has this way of not allowing you to aspire to anything beyond your comfort zone, but we must. If we don’t battle beyond our fears we’ll be average and stagnate – which isn’t acceptable so with that I’ll keep moving forward. I’ll turn my brain off and lead with my heart knowing that anything is possible I just have to keep moving.

Now, I’ve shared with you my biggest ambition and my largest fear and still, I’m choosing to go for it.

So I ask again. What will you aspire to do this year?

The Meat Hangover

By Eric Belliveau • October 7, 2020
When it comes to taking meat out of your diet, some people have the idea that they will only see positive changes immediately following this choice. While those positive changes are definitely part of the deal, so is an adjustment period for your body.

We're Trying

By Eric Belliveau • September 23, 2020
We were all thrown on this crazy ride together. Emotions were running high but so were patience, empathy, inclusion, and respect. Most of us could rally behind the #WeAreInThisTogether manta. We wanted to do right by each other - donate to charities, lend a hand, check-in on one another. Do our part. As the days turn to weeks and the weeks into months these dispositions decayed rapidly. I know that this Quarantine order has been going on for a long time. I know that a great number of us do not agree on the why. I know an even greater number of us are “over it”. I am painfully aware of the difference of opinions surrounding the pandemic. It is impossible to NOT be aware of this. This leads us all to frustration, anger, resentment, and the feeling that you are not being heard. Very real and very human emotions! It is okay to feel this way. I am not only writing this from the perspective of a fellow struggling human. I do find myself struggling with everything I mentioned above. Not just daily but multiple times a day. My ability to focus has been challenged by my worry. My ability to create time for myself and focus on self-care has been derailed for fear of other things becoming more pressing. I work on this every day. I am not only writing this from the perspective of one of the business owners who were never given a playbook for this. For weeks on end I thought WTF happened to the business and how would our model need to change and remain viable, how each business owner had to either weather a period in which we were completely shut down or allowed to operate under capacity restrictions, etc. The unknown of what the timeline would bring and whether we would be able to continue our dreams or make an extremely difficult decision of not continuing. This still haunts every one of us daily. I AM very much writing this as a service provider! I am writing this as an impassioned human who genuinely loves what I do for a living. I feel incredibly lucky to be able to have built a career surrounding something I get excited about every day. I am making a stand for all of us that make their living in the service industry. To the receptionist, hostess, waiter, cook, dry cleaner, teacher, technician, barista, utility worker, automobile service technician… It is truly impossible to be inclusive of everyone here.  No one human mentioned above asked for this ‘situation’ we are in. We are sure as hell trying to provide a level of normalcy, service, care, and happiness to the lives in which we choose to serve. With added restrictions, added expense decreased capacity and the fear of being fined or shut down for doing it incorrectly, everyday.

The Meat Hangover

By Eric Belliveau • October 7, 2020
When it comes to taking meat out of your diet, some people have the idea that they will only see positive changes immediately following this choice. While those positive changes are definitely part of the deal, so is an adjustment period for your body.

We're Trying

By Eric Belliveau • September 23, 2020
We were all thrown on this crazy ride together. Emotions were running high but so were patience, empathy, inclusion, and respect. Most of us could rally behind the #WeAreInThisTogether manta. We wanted to do right by each other - donate to charities, lend a hand, check-in on one another. Do our part. As the days turn to weeks and the weeks into months these dispositions decayed rapidly. I know that this Quarantine order has been going on for a long time. I know that a great number of us do not agree on the why. I know an even greater number of us are “over it”. I am painfully aware of the difference of opinions surrounding the pandemic. It is impossible to NOT be aware of this. This leads us all to frustration, anger, resentment, and the feeling that you are not being heard. Very real and very human emotions! It is okay to feel this way. I am not only writing this from the perspective of a fellow struggling human. I do find myself struggling with everything I mentioned above. Not just daily but multiple times a day. My ability to focus has been challenged by my worry. My ability to create time for myself and focus on self-care has been derailed for fear of other things becoming more pressing. I work on this every day. I am not only writing this from the perspective of one of the business owners who were never given a playbook for this. For weeks on end I thought WTF happened to the business and how would our model need to change and remain viable, how each business owner had to either weather a period in which we were completely shut down or allowed to operate under capacity restrictions, etc. The unknown of what the timeline would bring and whether we would be able to continue our dreams or make an extremely difficult decision of not continuing. This still haunts every one of us daily. I AM very much writing this as a service provider! I am writing this as an impassioned human who genuinely loves what I do for a living. I feel incredibly lucky to be able to have built a career surrounding something I get excited about every day. I am making a stand for all of us that make their living in the service industry. To the receptionist, hostess, waiter, cook, dry cleaner, teacher, technician, barista, utility worker, automobile service technician… It is truly impossible to be inclusive of everyone here.  No one human mentioned above asked for this ‘situation’ we are in. We are sure as hell trying to provide a level of normalcy, service, care, and happiness to the lives in which we choose to serve. With added restrictions, added expense decreased capacity and the fear of being fined or shut down for doing it incorrectly, everyday.
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