Finding resilience in a triathlete's 2020

Wow. Here we are in October and have you seen all the memes? I think all we can do is just get our cheesiest grin on, and make the most of what is left of 2020. Because I'm sure if you look hard enough, you will find a silver lining.

A few weeks ago I was asked to contribute to the OASIS Magazine's October issue. What ended up spouting forth was a very personal take on 2020, and the role that resilience has featured. I hope you enjoy the read!

Kylie Anderson

Director FOHER Co

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If you could choose a new middle name for yourself for 2020, what would it be? Well, after much consideration, I would choose ‘resilience’ for the general population. Why? Well, for the amount of adversity that 2020 has thrown up at so many people that I know, myself included, resilience has become a power word. Honestly, since February when I crashed my bike in front of the Red Beret Hotel on my Saturday morning bunch ride, it’s been one thing after another. Covid has just been the icing on the proverbial cake. And you know that old saying that bad things come in three? If you read the fine print, 2020 decided it was a bit more special, and excluded itself from that threesome.

On New Years Eve, I decided that 2020 was going to be my year. The year that could be anything I wanted. It was a new start on so many fronts, personally and professionally. But then my aforementioned bike crash came just a week out from my first major race of the season, Mooloolaba Triathlon. Armed with seven stitches in my elbow, a sprained wrist and charming gouge on my ankle, I decided to particirace anyhow. All good. When I got down to Mooloolaba, people were just starting to panic about Covid. A few pulled out of the race and there was a lot of talk about how the Council could even run the race with the pandemic heating up. I, and several thousand other athletes decided it was likely the last race for a while, weighed up the risks and race we did, and loved every minute!

A few days later, flights were being cancelled, races were being cancelled and on the home front, kids were being pulled out of school and it was getting increasingly difficult to get a good coffee! And things went from bad to worse. I tried so hard not to buy into the hype, but it was difficult with all of the misinformation and conspiracy theories bounding about on the socials. My anxiety started growing and the solo consumption volume of erm…corona’s appeared to significantly correlate to the exponentially growing number of international covid cases. I missed my friends! Virtually speaking to other mums, I certainly wasn’t alone. A LOT of wine was being consumed during lockdown, Kids had a LOT of screen time. And there was a LOT of guilt, and hangovers. All the while, all of this was hilariously being parodied in tik-tok videos which helped keep the feeling of isolation at bay. But the uncertainty and anxiety wasn’t going away.

But pull through we did, minute by minute, day by day we crawled on because we had to. And for me, I started looking for, and heck experiencing the silver linings! No cars on the road, so an early morning bike ride to Port Douglas was heaven! I started getting fitter because riding my bike was my escape. No daily commute into town for school drop-offs and irrelevant errands, no battling traffic for 60 mins each way. No sneaky cake or french pasty stops. Still not sure if that was a positive or a negative, because we all know that eating cake stimulates endorphins, but my bank balance definitely enjoyed that decrease in spending! And I discovered some great local coffee roasters. 

What has been really interesting though has been watching how my fellow athletes have coped with the stress of the 2020 events, or actually the lack of. Forefront among my business philosophies is to motivate and encourage, and we certainly tried during the initial peak! Facebook Lives for our Brand Ambassador cohort, exclusive product launches, motivating blog posts. Despite these activities, as athletes we need and look forward to events like IRONMAN Cairns to keep us motivated, to keep our heads above water as we tread the day to day grind of work and life. Training for many of us is our anti-depressant. So to have events cancelled made us question so much. And when GARMIN went down, well that just about ended a few people. Who saw that coming? Some people threw their hands up and went into a deep dive. Others remained positively optimistic that their goal race was going to be on and continued to train.

And here in far northern Australia over the past few months, things have taken on a new normal. Unlike our southern counterparts, we can again go out with friends for a cocktail (but you best book!), sitting at a café enjoying coffee (don’t forget to scan that QR code and sign in), riding in a group again (no snot rockets thanks!). And then this week, many of us received the most exciting news of all. That IRONMAN Cairns was GO! And word on the street is that hotels are booked, cafes and local businesses are trying to jump onto the IRONMAN bandwagon, all under a covid safe plan of course.

At the end of the day, I think something we can all take away from the year so far is that despite what is thrown at you, what is out of your control, you can control how you act and react in the face of adversity. You can sit and wallow and play the victim. Or you can take a look at how you can learn and grow, and pick yourself up and keep moving forward. Either way, you always have a choice. And if you just can’t seem to get out of that hole, that it all seems too hard, then seek professional help because there is amazing support. And we all know that sometimes it’s not easy to bounce back. C’mon then 2020, what else do you have for us?