New Zealand Weekly Update #63

01st of January until 07th of January 2024

Approximate reading time: 5 minutes

Lets get it started

Happy new year fellas! Welcome 2024. Welcome 366 chances to make the best out of each day, to enjoy, to experience, to relax, to reconsider, to change.
Not every day will be a good day. There will be days that are gonna challenge you and me. That are gonna be tough. Painful. Never-ending. But in the end, each and every day will be a good experience, if we can try to figure out what life wants to show, to teach us. Lets make 2024 great.
New years eve was kinda crazy, I was celebtrating with some friends of mine in Hawea, a nice area with a big garden, a fire place, some good music, drinks and sone drinking games. And just enjoying the company and the area around us. We stayed up almost the whole night. And while the sun was showing up, I had a little nap and stayed out the whole morning. And just relaxing, sun in my face, got sunburned on my feet and drinking heaps of water to rehydrate again.

Sporty Trilogy

2nd of January, lets get into the new year – go hard or go home? Well, I was still not back to life from New years eve but I paid for this Triathlon, I trained, so lets go bro. Drving to Cromwell at 7AM, almost no cars on the streets, sun facing me. And arriving in Cromwell around 8AM. Lots of people with bikes, expensive gear. So everyone got ready, we set up our equipment, our bikes, got into our wetsuits and prepared ourselves for a nice day. Not too much sun and a little wind, perfect conditions. Safety briefing at 9.15AM. And action! First round, swimming in the lake, two laps. While most of the people where pretty fast, I took it easy and got into my mood. Not my first open water experience but my first competitive open water experience though. Strike by strike. Breathing. Not moving them legs too much. And trying to see the markings in the water to follow. Second round, just me and a couple of other people left in the water. And out of the water after 1200m and 30 minutes, not too bad. Transition zone, getting changed for bike. 3 minutes later, on the road. And this was a beast, steep, steep and bloody steep as! And we had to do this section twice! But if you drive uphill, you’ll go downhill soon! Heavily breathing uphill, big smiley face downhill. And after 38km and 1.22h I was back at base, ready to jump into my running shoes for the last episode. Running. And this was a quite hard part. My legs were tired, the first section was uphill, I felt pretty slow and thought about giving up. No music, no motivation, just me, heavily breathing and thinking about the long way to go. But also thinking about how it would feel like finishing. With some friends waiting for me. So keep going! And the last kilometer felt great, easy, light, full of energy and motivation. And indeed, some friends of mine would wait for me at the finish line. This it what helps you keep going. Knowing that there might be someone waiting for you. This is the support you need while struggeling. This is the support that helps you finishing! Of course it is also about your mindset, your training, your mental strength. But now and then, all of us need a little extra support. A little mental kick. A push. A connection.
So here we are – first triathlon (almost olympic distance) done! More to come, more to train, more to finish 🙂

Connections and Clicks

I am reading a book at the moment. „Click“, speaking about how we click with someone from time to time. In a certain and special way. From the very beginning on. Without being able to explain it in total but we feel it. Conversations feel easy, no weird silence, there is a certain energy between this person and you. It seems like you complete each other and you are able to oush yourself in a positive way. Have you experienced this already in your life? It might be not about a romantic or sexual relationship, it could also be a friendship or just a long talk with a stranger. And the author is talking about different accelerators, that are important for us to click with someone. Such as vulnerability. If we open up and show our „weak“ sides, we earn trust. We take a risk, the person we are talking to gets to see our weak spots, our anxieties, our struggles. And we give some kind of trust in advance. Trust that people would not treat us in a wrong way or use those sensitive information for their advantage. And it might help them to open up as well. Another accelerator is similarity. Having the same interests, same experiences in our childhood, living in the same town or even better neighborhood. And resonance, the ability to interact with the person we are talking to. Being honestly interested in that person, asking serious questions, responding to their answers, eye contact, trying to understand and feel. Empathy. Interest. And there are some more accelerators (but I did not finish the book yet). But thinking about those „click“ moments, there havent been that much in my life. And they happen without warning. Without us trying to please or to adjust our behaviour. They just happen in a magical and unique way. And you can feel this kind of connection with that person straight away, even though you know each other for a couple of seconds. And people around you would think that you have known each other for years. And if you are lucky, this connection will last, will be strong and full of energy. will embrace your abilities, skills and ideas. And in the end, I am sure this is something everybody is looking for. Connection. With ourselves. And others.

What else to say?

The new year has been already very exciting, very challenging and very expensive. People would tell you as soon as you got your bike for triathlon, its gonna be a cheap sport. Haha! Not at all! Just fot new tyres, tubes and a new wheel for my bike. Almost 1000 dollars gone. And the car is striking again, coolant box down. Will get it done, also almost 1000 dollars gone! Expensive shit fellas! But money comes back, time doesn’t. And riding the bike for 150km on the strees, with a nice lunch break in the area of Makarora – hell yes! That’s fun. Pacing downhill with 70km per hour, this is energy and goosebumps! And finally, I catched up with Jess and Max again, and of course with their little fella Finn, such a gorgeous little boy! Ten weeks old and he is so interested in his environment. Max was doing some music at the Albi in Albertown and we went for a swim in the river afterwards and some dinner in town. An amzing finale for a great day outdoors.
Welcome to 2024 fellas – lets kick some butts 🙂

Your DingyInternational
Felix