Sunday Story…Origins

The other day Ellie and I were sitting down to lunch, and we said we really need to tell the story of how CrossFit Odyssey came into being. So, I started one of these missives with that in mind. But as I did that, I realized that the Odyssey story and my odyssey to get here started long before 2013.

When I was 10 or 12 years old, I remember dreaming (like so many of us at that age) of doing amazing things that would change the world: authoring that novel that would amaze and enlighten, bringing life-saving remedies to people in need, or becoming a leader who would inspire a team to enrich and empower people. I told my father that I didn’t know what I was going to do or be but that whatever it was, I would be the absolute best at it that I could be.

Fast forward many years and I realized that changing the world was more difficult than my younger self realized. The dawning realization was this: to change the world, I had to change myself. Thus began the journey, the odyssey that continues to this day.

This odyssey has been, at times, a painful exploration of who I am as a human in this body, currently. Armed with that self-knowledge I began a painful and difficult climb out of the pitfalls this modern life has set for all of us. There were no sacred cows, no rocks to leave unturned. Every facet from food and drink to exercise and thought to relationships and communication needed to be explored and examined and then improved.

Unlike Odysseus who returned to the safe harbor of his home island this odyssey continues, and I expect it to continue for many more years. Next week…the Journey to Extraordinary.

John Mariotti

www.crossfitodyssey.com

www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com

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