When you’re a kid, you know you’re going to be an Olympian. And president. And probably fly to Mars too, for good measure. You’re going to be a rock star, a movie star, a race car driver. You’re going to be the absolute best at absolutely everything on earth.

And then, somewhere down the line, a lot of us give up. Maybe it’s because we realize it’s okay not to be the best, not to be well known. But maybe it’s because we stop trying. Maybe we get lazy. Or maybe we’ve fallen down one too many times and can’t seem to push ourselves up again. Maybe one too many person has looked us in the eye and said ‘not possible.’ Whatever the reason, we’re done chasing exceptional. We just want to live our life and be relatively happy doing it.

When I was younger, I was in gymnastics. At first, I flew through the beginning levels. I cartwheeled, jumped, kicked, flipped, and soared for six years. But then it got too hard. My back wouldn’t arch anymore, I couldn’t stay balanced on the balance beam, and the most I could seem to do on bars was cast into a backwards hip circle. Not exactly Olympian worthy. One of the moments I remember clearly is when we were on floor, crossing it by doing various basic skills. At one point, during a skill, I fell on my back in the middle of the floor, knocking the wind out of me. I remember that even when my breath returned I just lay there, refusing to get up until one of the coaches shouted,”Emily just get up!” Even though I kept up with it for a while after that, I’m pretty sure that’s the moment where I gave up on it all. And that’s okay, because it left room to pursue things I was better at. But it wasn’t okay, because I loved gymnastics and I had completely stopped trying.

Every time I watch the Olympics, I think, why didn’t I go for it? Why didn’t I push through the barriers? Especially since I was the one who erected half of them.  I’m sure many others watch the games and feel the same way, no matter what sport they’re watching or what thing in their past they gave up on. I’m sure after the Olympics there is a resurgence in athletic programs, probably a lot of swimming and gymnastics. People stare at these athletes not just with pride, but occasionally envy.

And it’s not just the athletes. For those of us who are athletically challenged, yes it may bring back days when we were not so. Days when we could actually do more than a quarter of a pull up. Days when ‘splits’ didn’t have ‘banana’ in front of it.

But it also just makes us envy their passion and dedication, in any respect. I see those athletes working their asses off to go for gold, and I wonder, why am I not doing that, with anything in my life?

In all of the performance evaluations I’ve had, there are 4 categories. The categories are along the lines of ‘unsatisfactory performance,’ ‘needs improvement,’ ‘meets expectations,’ and ‘exceeds expectations’ (the wording is a little different for each one).  At one such performance evaluation, my supervisor saw me look at all of the empty ‘exceeds expectations’ boxes and said ‘don’t worry, it’s basically impossible for somebody in your position to earn that.’ I know it was supposed to be a reassurance,  but to me, it was a huge let down. Why even have it on the evaluation, I thought, if you believe there’s no way I can achieve it? And why are we not encouraged to or given resources to go above and beyond what is expected of us? If we have the passion and work ethic, why stop us? It made me feel as if I was being held back instead of being pushed forward when it came to my job. I felt like I was back on the floor, staring up at the gym ceiling, and once again, I stayed down. I basically decided not to even try if it didn’t matter anyway.

This was a huge mistake.I realized this while watching the Olympics. I realized this when I witnessed all the children who said, “I’m going to be an Olympian,” fulfill their own prophecies. I realized how cowardly it was to back out just because I was told I probably couldn’t achieve something. I have a chance to help and inspire others at my job, as well as develop ideas and practices to make sure we are doing so in the best and most far-reaching ways possible. To say I’m not interested anymore and stop utilizing what resources I do have in my line of work to “Exceeds Expectations” was selfish and unfair to me, as well as the patrons I work with.

Yes, watching the Rio games makes me wish I’d persevered and risen above Intermediate Level gymnastics, but it also makes me want to persevere and rise above intermediate level work and life as well. It makes me want to chase exceptional again. And I think, besides world and country unity, that is kind of the point.