It's been a minute since I've made an entry here. That isn't due to lack of stuff happening; if anything it feels like quite the opposite. Oddly enough with all the things keeping me busy recently, it feels like I haven't had much to say. When life keeps me busy, I have a hard time slowing down and processing everything in my surroundings. As of an hour-ish ago with the 2026 Winter Olympics wrapping up, I feel like I have a minute to slow things down and process some things I'm feeling regarding that.

First and foremost, what an amazing iteration of the Winter Olympics these games were! Seeing the world come together for the love of sport and unity, it's pretty amazing to witness. I watched so many events such as biathlon, bobsleigh, figure skating, hockey, cross-country skiing, and many more that I'm forgetting to mention. Seeing all these people's dreams come true in real time is truly awe-inspiring and I don't think I can fathom how much time and work it takes to even qualify for the Olympics. It's a gift to get to watch it (from the comfort of my home).

I feel like every time I've watched the Olympics, I get this rough post-Olympics blues and this time is no different. Watching the closing ceremony, seeing all the athletes waving goodbye, listening to all the great music performances, seeing the handover to the next Olympics host site, it's a bittersweet feeling. The highs of cheering on athletes I've never seen in sports I've never played for two weeks and the lows I experience once the games are over are something I'll always sign up for though, no questions asked.

One thing I've been thinking about is Alysa Liu and her whole story in these Olympics. To briefly summarize, she retired after accomplishing so many great feats in the figure skating world at a young age and then she un-retired two years later on her own terms and ended up winning two gold medals at these Olympics (this summary doesn't do her career justice, I would highly suggest looking into her story).

From learning about her story in interviews and watching her Olympics performances, I feel like anyone can see how care-free she is and how much she loves what she's doing. Never, at any point, did I feel like the pressure of the moment got to her and to witness that on the Olympics stage is absolutely mind-blowing; it just looked like she was just having fun and that fun just happened to be at the Olympics figure skating finals for a gold medal. All of this makes me wonder about my life and how I'm going about it; handling pressure, doing things I love for the love of it, finding joy and happiness in what I do, not caring about what others think and being yourself, and I'm sure countless other lessons I'm missing out on listing. When I think about it, those lessons sound like generic pep-talk but to see it in action on one of the world's biggest stages, that is what's making me question how I'm going about my life. I feel like I sound a bit harsh on myself but I just feel pretty inspired by all these Olympians performing their best in situations where the whole world is watching them.

While I do feel down about the Olympics wrapping up, I also feel that I gained a lot of life lessons and perspectives from these games that I want to carry forward and practice in my life.