This summer has been one of adventure, freedom, reconnecting
with friends and family and above and beyond all, a time to relax, refocus and
reflect; I have had the summer of my life.
As my time as “lady of leisure” comes to an end I realize that one, I
can’t “leisure” and two, this summer was truly a gift.
What started out as almost panic by idleness, I realize now
was the transitioning from a life fully planned, scheduled and analysed. How could I not sort of panic? How could I
not feel guilty for not going to the gym? How could I not feel a little bit unfettered
by the lack of daily emails checking up on my heart rates, rpm on the bike and
what I squatted that day in the gym? Once I realized that all of these anxieties
were “normal” I started being able to move on and leave that old life behind
me.
Everyone is quick to tell you that the transition from
athlete to layman is difficult but because it is such an individual journey no
one has the magic key to unlock the next door in the journey called life. No
one told me that deadlines for school are more often than not in January, which
would explain the exacerbated looks when I applied in JUNE! I think that the
information about admissions, school hunting and transcripts got lost in the
mail. I had the honour of typing in
“mature” student on my application for the University of Calgary and the
slightly humiliating experience of handing out the sport awards in Fernie to my
up and coming classmates! Looking over my
high school transcripts was like going back in time and boy did it feel like
eons ago but all in all it has been an inspiring experience and one that
reassures me of my decision to finish my undergrad degree.
Having mastered the application process, I set my mind to
resume writing; much easier said than done.
My Second Cup barista experience in 2002 did not turn out to be the
highlight of my resume which at the time I thought would! How do you eloquently
describe being an Olympic athlete and the multi faceted life experience it was?
Oh, six pages is a bit too long? Thank
goodness for good friends and amazing editors.
My resume was complete; check. Next was my “personal letter” which I
needed for my application at LSE in London.
I have to write my personal letter in under 500 words? What, that is
just my intro. I started learning quickly
that less is more and no need for all the frosting on the cake; so much for my
blogging style.
Next came the GMATs! Yes, you read that right. I decided to
skip a couple steps and try out the GMAT. My first day with my lovely new best
friend, the GMAT book for dummies was a little rough. I honestly thought that I had bought the
Chinese version. The simple grade 12
math looked like high level calculus and the simple algebra was about as simple
as the abacus. The good news is that
through all my writing and reading over the years, the English part was
actually doable and made me feel that I wasn’t a long lost cause! One may ask,
why the GMATs without an undergrad and my answer, why not! I am putting a lot
of options out there into the universe and hoping that one of them will work
out. I truly believe that you can’t put all your eggs in one basket and you
need to give an honest effort to all your little baskets.
This was all while trying to raise money for the Emily
Brydon Youth Foundation and organize our annual golf tournament for September
18th. With TECK’s amazing
$50,000 donation and Canadian Pacific’s $5000, I am off to a great start. The golf tournament is shaping up nicely
although we are always looking for more willing and daring participants. Go check out www.emilybrydonyouthfoundation.com
So here we are, mid August and I can proudly say that I am
going to be a student at the U of C starting this fall. I am happier than a hound dog that I get to
spend a winter close to Fernie where I can experience a “real” winter with
“real” skiing!! Thank you to all who have made this transition so much easier
and a great adventure. Thanks to London,
Portugal, Fernie, Calgary, Osoyoos, Kelowna, Portland, Vancouver, the West
Coast Trail, Charlottetown, Digby, New York, Montreal, Quebec City, Charlevoix
and Sutton for allowing me to come and play!!
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