I’m going to try and write something everyday for the next 30 days. It could be something big, it could be something small. It could be insightful, incredible, and contribute amazing things to this world! Or, it could be word vomit. In any endeavor, after the Olympics I’ve decided to find new ways to challenge myself with staying busy in New York City.
I’ve always felt creative. Because I’m an Olympian and sporty, people think you can’t be both athletic and creative but I beg to differ. I hope that the creativity surrounding this project can maybe change some minds surrounding that. At the very least, you’ll learn a little Tongan magic from a big booty Tongan magician.
It is a week after Labor Day, which is the weekend that typically marks the end of summer in America. Technically the fall equinox is closer to September 20, but we can already start to feel the beginnings of a chill here in the city.
Anyway, what a summer we’ve all had! I wish I could say it was relaxing. I suppose there were some relaxing moments, I guess? But for the most part it was a summer of self-discipline and determination. I went for, and achieved, swimming at my 3rd Olympics.
How’d it go? Well, not quite according to plan lmao. I got disqualified! However, I also made history in the process: Tokyo 2020 was the first swimming competition FINA introduced video refereeing and I was the first swimmer to experience the new protest procedure with video refereeing. What an honor. More on that later.
If anybody wants to read my statement to the press about my disqualification, you can do so here. You’ll need to pay a Tongan newspaper’s subscription fee to take down the paywall, but your curiosity will be quenched. If there’s a way I can convert your inquisitive nosiness about my life into support towards a local Tongan business, I’ll surely find a way to do it! #GirlBoss
We all know how much I love to plug a local Tongan business.
Apologies to all the publications that reached out for a media interviews that I didn’t respond to. If it was interpreted as being rude, I’m sorry, I just really wanted to stay true to the commitment I had of not causing any scenes at these Olympics. I think it’s dope to do media when you have projects and interesting things to talk about.
I’ve done a lot of interesting things since Rio. Yes, being Gay at the Olympics is newsworthy, but if there’s anything Madonna has taught me it’s that one must always reinvent themselves in order to stay relevant. They don’t call M the Mother of Reinvention for nothing, kittens!
Reinventing myself as an entrepreneur proved too difficult for certain media to wrap their head’s around. Or perhaps they didn’t find that angle very interesting. Capitalism is so gauche these days. Regardless, when they pushed back and told me they specifically wanted to discuss being a gay athlete from Tonga, without any mention of what I’d been up to subsequently since Rio, I declined the media interview.
I only want to work with people who respect my process as a human being to evolve. I’m many other things outside of being a gay swimmer and I hope to show the world this through 30 days of writing!
Full disclosure: I talk a lot about my body, nutrition, and working out. Unlike most people, I love my body, and I have a good relationship with it. I think it’s important that we all find ways to develop a good relationship between our mind and body. Perhaps once we start learning to love our body for what it is, instead of loathing it for what it is not, then maybe the idea of bodily maintenance doesn’t become such a difficult task.
I derive great joy from bodily maintenance. I enjoy the process of looking after my body. I’ve taught myself to eat food for sustenance and brain power. Throughout the process of eating healthier, I’ve developed a palette for nutritious meals. I can taste when something is going to do well by me. I have green juice everyday with a tablespoon of spirulina. I love exercising. I love movement. I love a weight room and gym. It wasn’t always this way though.
I didn’t always have it easy. It took me a full year of lifting weights to finally feel comfortable in a gym and weight room. Those environments can be quite intimidating and I was intimidated for a long time before I finally learned to let go. The gym is a judgmental zone and when you don’t know what you’re doing or feeling uncomfortable, it shows and people notice. That was me for a full year before I finally decided to stop giving a damn of what anybody else thought of me, and this commitment to fitness is a contract between myself and the exercise machine I’m using, that’s it. All other opinions are irrelevant and I’ve learned to zone out of all that territorial machismo bullshit that comes with the gym. It’s just me and the squat rack. Or bench press. Or whatever. Anyway, maybe that’s an interesting blog subject to explore: how to get comfortable at the gym!!??
I’ll always round out my blog with a song alongside my favorite lyrics. Today I was lazy and didn’t give it too much thought. I just hit shuffle on Spotify and decided to go with whatever came up. So here it is. My fav part are the lyrics of the final 2 quatrains of the second verse:
“Don't even think about what's right or wrong, or wrong or right
'Cause in the end it's only you and me
And no one else is going to be around
To answer all the questions left behind
And you and I are meant to be
So even if the world falls down today
You've still got me to hold you up, up
And I will never let you down, down”
I’ll try to not let you down…