2012, an evening in July. It’s already 11 PM, but I’m still sitting in the office, pointlessly dragging a folder with financial reports across the screen for half an hour, thinking it would be better to throw it in the bin.
By the age of 38 I had everything that a normal man should dream of: a wife, two children, a successful, growing business (100 people), many friends, an apartment in the centre, a car, a beer belly and, as one of my acquaintances said – I’m not the last man in the city ????
I’ve already realized my financial, creative, managerial and social ambitions but, instead of a feeling of pride and victory, there was only emptiness.
Ever since I can remember, I was fighting. At first, for surviving in a foreign city, then appeared Simpals and I’ve spent my evenings and weekends at work to make it a flourishing company. Then were the cartoons and I threw myself into creation to obtain 40 awards at dozens of festivals around the world.
And, in the meantime, I was fighting for family happiness, because my wife couldn’t stand my difficult personality and she was packing her bags every quarter of the year with a strong desire to finally feel happy…
And now, when all the storms have calmed down, I didn’t know what to do next. Chasing money was already boring to me, the animation studio worked on its own, binging with friends didn’t bring happiness anymore, and the relationship with my beloved was slowly moving to a dead end.
Plus I was tormented by hypertension, inherited from my father.
I was sitting in the office, thinking I’m just a simple office jelly, living my boring, useless life and slowly dying from diseases and laziness. And that’s how I felt for the last six months.
I had no clue what should I do, how can I change my life to feel again happy and full of energy.
I’ve already known then that I want to turn my life into a novel – chapter after chapter. And this novel must be interesting to read to grandchildren before going to bed. Unlikely a chapter about their grandpa increasing the rentability of a marketing department by 14 percent is going to be captivating for them…
But the last chapter of my life appeared to be so: boring, meaningless and monotonous, full of references to previous chapters and quotes of famous people.
My reflections were interrupted by a jumping skype icon.
I threw away the folder with reports, sighed and opened the message:
I clicked on the link without any knowledge that my life is about to divide into two parts.
It was an Ironman report. After reading it, I was bewildered. Read it one more time. I still had no idea that I’m infected without any chance to recover. I began reading other reports of iron people. Ordinary people, just like me, who could swim 4 km without a stop, ride 180 on a bicycle, and run 42 km for dessert.
I didn’t come home that night, and in the morning, with my eyes red, I couldn’t think of anything else except a pair of sneakers. And that’s how everything started.
5 years passed since that day, and now I’m not that sad tubby with hypertension and an extinct look. My life has changed completely:
I’ve run dozens of marathons, deserts, frozen lakes, climbed on mountains, swum across rivers, lakes, straits and canals, dived into the deep, hadn’t breathe, swimran, triathloned, participated in world championships , became an Ironman.
It was hard, but I managed to infect dozens of my friends and acquaintances with love for sports, who in turn infected hundreds of their friends. My team Sporter and I organized the International Chisinau Marathon and dozens of other sports events.
Hundreds of workout hours spent by myself have changed me a lot. I’ve become more calm and self-confident, learned to listen to my body, to live the moment. It has affected the relationship in my family – now Vika and I are inseparable. Though, she doesn’t really support my sports activities ????
Of course, my life didn’t become perfect. It turned into a fight. I receive the greatest satisfaction when I come home after another craziness with my shield, or on it (it’s not that important), hug my beloved ones, lie with them on the couch and do everything that bumps into my mind. I eat and drink whatever I want, skip work, have some wild time with my children, wife or friends. Only then I’m enjoying life.
But after some time, I cannot stand it anymore. I become uncomfortable with my laziness and idleness – and here I am, planning an another adventure and beginning preparations. Another strict regime, diet, restrictions, and only one goal that guides me ahead: to run across Baikal, to climb on Montblanc, to become an Ironman, to swim across Gibraltar, to hold my breath for 6 minutes , and so on, and so on, and so on…
I don’t feel comfortable in my comfort zone. For me it’s like a short break between two fights. I don’t know what for, but the God created me like this, and I can only feel happy when I pursue my goals through pain and suffering. What did I do in my past lives to anger the Almighty is unknown to me, but in this life I will have to roll my boulder up the mountain till the end…
However, the main thing that gives me the power to keep moving is the belief that one day, someone really tired of life will bump into one of my reports late in the evening, and his life will change…
