Bruce Jenner
Watch The Video
There were so many great moments during my Olympic journey. First, making it on the team in 1972…coming out of absolutely nowhere…was the biggest thrill of my life. Four years later, in 1976, it was a totally different deal. When I broke the world record for the decathlon in Munich, I was the most satisfied person in the world because I just accomplished everything in my sport that I could possibly accomplish. And not too many athletes can walk away from their career feeling that way.
As a youngster I had attention deficit disorder, and dyslexia. And it was very difficult as a young kid. We put so much pressure on young people to perform in school, to read well, and get good grades. That wasn’t happening for me. I failed 2nd grade, and I suffered from terrible low self-esteem. I thought all of the kids were smarter than me, better readers. My biggest fear was to go to school as a young kid because I was afraid that the teacher was going to ask me to read in front of the class.
I was lucky. In 5th grade, in gym class, I found this thing called sports. We had this running race, and I beat everyone in the whole school. Everyone’s coming up, congratulating me, patting me on the back, and telling me how quick I was. I wasn’t getting that in the classroom.
What sports gave me was a vehicle to build self-confidence. Once I did that, it helped me with my problems in school, and a lot of the problems I was having with self-esteem in the classroom.
Sports was my little niche. I call it my little arena to play in…where I could grow, where I could beat other people, and feel good about myself. Never knowing where I would go. I mean I never thought I would go as far as I did. But I guarantee that always in my back of my head, was that little dyslexic kid. And, my message to kids today is to find your niche in life. If it’s taken away from you in one area, it’s given to you in another. And your job is to find that other area.
We’re on a great journey in life. And the most fun in life is having something out there when you wake up in the morning. I don’t care what arena you play in, you should wake up in the morning excited about the day. Try to get the most out of that one day so that day after day after day you can build something in your life. The journey is the fun part. The climb to the top is the fun part.
Leave a Reply