The pathway seldom taken might be more aptly titled the pathway rarely taken when it comes to fighting for your real dreams.

Risk is pervasive and it often leads you down a trail headed towards a cliff leaving you with one option and no guarantees. Symbolic of course but what option is that?

To jump.

When Femcompetitor Magazine came across CrossFit star Katie Hogan’s picture, our first thought was wow! Super sexy.

In the course of our work we often come across myriads of beautiful women and it’s their life story that separates the ones that we dream about from the ones that we follow through and write about.

Katie’s story is fascinating with an important life lesson to share.

First I’m going to briefly share a tale that is expressed differently depending upon the region you are from but with essentially similar threads.

Here we go.

There was a beautiful rich young woman named Heather who on a golden sunny day went for a long horseback ride. Everything was going fine until she noticed this angry, almost hideous looking woman who was following her on horseback as well. Frightened, Heather began to race back home to avoid her. Curiously, the faster Heather rode, the faster the woman rode to catch up with her.

What was the wretched looking woman’s name?

Destiny.

Destiny has two ways of crushing us – by refusing our wishes and by fulfilling them...Henri Frederic Amiel

When you enjoy the view of Katie’s accomplishments, you can understand why she was destined to come to the world’s attention.

Let’s take a brief look with an eye to appreciation.

At her twitter we discover that Katie is a Reebok athlete and a Kill Cliff athlete. She loves to focus on fitness and lift heavy things.

Katie is a member of what many dub “Fox Force Five.” Katie, 2010 Reebok CrossFit Games champion Kristan Clever, 2011 third-place finisher Becca Voigt, and longtime standouts Lindsey Valenzuela and Lisa Ryan make up the strongest lineup of female athletes in a single CrossFit gym. “Iron sharpens iron” goes the proverb, and Valley CrossFit proves it.

According to the informative site theboxmag.com shares, “Hogan is already a seasoned Games competitor. She placed 18^th in 2009, when she instigated a herniated disk in her lumbar spine, an injury that ultimately took her out of contention for the 2010 Games. She stormed back in 2011, dominating the Open and then sweeping the Southern California Regionals, along with gym-mates Clever and Voigt.”

She’s also a former All-American collegiate athlete in track and volleyball.

Very impressive.

The enjoyable site therxreview.com continues the examination and praise. “When it comes to big names in the CrossFit world, it’s hard to look past Katie Hogan. A two time Games veteran, Hogan has only been in the sport a short time but her impact and presence is hard to miss.

Hogan is a former NCAA Division II athlete in Volleyball and Track & Field, receiving All-American Honors in both sports. She found CrossFit in 2008 after a conversation in a car park sparked an interest for her to give it a try.”

As far as having a complete package close to perfection, the respected news source examiner.com seems to have similar thoughts to ours. “Outside of her training and competitive achievements, it would be almost disingenuous to write about Hogan and not mention that she has become part of a new generation of easy-on-the-eyes CrossFit athletes. With sculpted CrossFit athletes including Rich Froning, Camille Leblanc-Bazinet, Julie Foucher, and Dan Bailey representing the “Strong is the new sexy” movement, Hogan has become of the sport’s biggest crushes.”

We agree.

We shouldn’t be surprised. A natural Cali girl being from San Jose, what else would we expect?

What is most fascinating about Katie’s success is how she jumped off the symbolic cliff to forge her destiny.

It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.……William Shakespeare

You can follow Katie at Katie’s website: http://www.itf-fitness.com/
Facebook or Twitter: @KaitHogan777

There the message of her story now comes into focus. She shares, “5 years ago I decided to take a chance and leave my desk job with a salary, health plan and 401k because I loved CrossFit and I loved helping people.

I went from sitting in a dark office most of the day watching my coworkers battling stress, back & neck pain, depression, poor nutrition, little sleep and no exercise, to now working on my feet, in a gym, positively affecting people’s lives.

Now here I am in beautiful Oahu where I get to teach a CrossFit Level 2 seminar. My job now is far more fulfilling than I could have ever imagined. I get to travel the world, meet and coach new people and hear their stories. I get to see how I make a difference in their lives and the lives of the athletes they coach.”

It is in your moments of decision that your destiny is shaped.……Tony Robbins

That decision took a lot of courage and belief in self. With no guarantees, she forged her destiny.

In the horse riding tale previously told, the woman finally caught up with Heather. To Heathers’ horror she recognized the woman and guess who it was?

It was Heather in the future after she had gone down the wrong life pathway and the person she had become, unhappy and hideous in look, was trying to warn her to change her destiny.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful in life if we could have the person that we will become in the future warn us what pathway not to pursue or encourage and direct down the one far more suitable?

That of course would be too easy.

In reality we already have that person inside of our head. It’s our courage, belief in self and above all the willingness to take a risk and pursue what’s important to us with no guarantees.

The mistake we can make by playing it safe is that we might assume that dreary, clock watching life pathway that makes us hate Sunday evening because we know what the next day entails, to pay the mortgage and build our retirement has a flat line effect. Neither good nor bad, just steady, responsible and honorable.

Can’t argue with that.

The danger with that summation and in making that safe decision since life is rarely linear; you are either ascending or regressing. It’s not just the desperate, mundane journey that you are on.

It’s your destination.

When we look at Katie’s story and the fable as well what is the more important lesson?

It’s who you change into.

Play it safe lends to one outcome and one personality profile, often undesirable not only to yourself but to others around you. If you are not happy, how can they be? If you are not inspired, how can you inspire them?

Take a risk for your dreams, the things you love and are passionate about and you evolve into someone else.

Katie clearly made the right decision. She has evolved into a beautiful, fit, athletic, socially responsible person who lives a life of travel, fan adulation and excitement.

Would Femcompetitor Magazine and all of the other media outlets be writing about her today if years ago she made the decision to stay in that office and play it safe?

Aren’t you glad that you are reading about her?

Jean de La Fontaine was the most famous French fabulist and one of the most widely read French poets of the 17th century. He was once quoted as saying something as foreboding and penetrating as it is timeless.

“A person often meets his destiny on the road he took to avoid it.”

Now that’s the hard way and let’s be very clear about something. Whatever that destiny is, he didn’t say it was good or bad. It may turn out to be very bad.

Isn’t it better to forge your own destiny and do it Katie’s way?

~ ~ ~

Sources: brainyquote.com, Wikipedia, fciwomenswrestling2.com, FCI Elite Competitor, photos thank you Wikimedia Commons.

https://twitter.com/KatieHogan777?ref_src=twsrc^google|twcamp^serp|twgr^author

http://itf-fitness.com/

http://theathleticbuild.com/crossfit-athlete-katie-hogan-talks-with-theathleticbuild-com/

http://www.theboxmag.com/article/the-road-to-regionals-9735

http://therxreview.com/interview-katie-hogan/

https://www.instagram.com/katiehogan777/?hl=en

http://www.examiner.com/article/new-year-new-goals-katie-hogan-sets-her-sights-on-2013-crossfit-games