Breakfast of Champions - A Reimagining

Syrup - particularly delicious on breakfast foods.

We all have mornings where we wake up, and have nothing for breakfast, or don't want to make any. So, we resort to the pizza we ordered last night (or the night before), or perhaps a birthday cake from a couple days ago. Maybe this is once in awhile, for a day, or even a few days in a row. This breakfast of champions is not such a tragedy as some imagine it to be.

Breakfast of Champions is an event they had at my old high school every semester for students who had achieved something; this is not necessarily something academic: In fact, it was preferable that this was the quiet student in the back of the class who works so hard but doesn’t get recognized because it’s not 80%. Teachers would choose one student from a class of theirs to have breakfast with. That student, and the teachers, would get up and get to school early. They got to have breakfast though, the most important meal of the day. The meal to get you started. I would argue, the most inspiring meal. Worth the early morning trek. I never got to attend, but most people knew about it. You'd walk into school and get the most wonderful waft of pancake scent. Beautiful. While I did experience a childish jealousy, I was happy the school recognized not only academic achievement, but also the "I got out of bed and made it to school today," kind of achievement. Perhaps this is an overthinking of the event, but it meant something to me, even if I never got to go. Even the librarian picked someone to come with them.

Perhaps we call breakfast of champions such, our chocolate cakes, our cold pizza, our bites of foods we inevitably throw away on sick days: Our attempts to eat breakfast with no energy in our bodies to do so, because we are accomplishing something. We are eating breakfast. Maybe, it doesn’t even feel inspiring while you’re eating it. But if you think back, you can see it.

A personal anecdote:

One day I woke up in a morning that made me feel like the day would be okay. In it’s very first light however, as I was lying in my bed, not wanting to get up because I didn’t have to be anywhere until 3 o’clock and I didn’t want to face the day. Which, I know doesn’t sound hopeful at all, but then I listened to some music. I got up so that I could listen through my bluetooth speaker (which had conveniently been located across the room from my bed so I had to get up) and I decided since I had already gotten up I might as well get dressed and do some school work. I decided I was worth a walk up to Tim Hortons from my University dorm. A coffee, to get the day really started on that top caffeine notch. So I went, and I found a weird donut title that I knew a friend would like. I decided it was worth a moment to share with her. I bought it, and texted her saying we had to try it, and went downstairs again to start my school work. Then, I didn’t get work done, but she texted back saying she was getting dressed and then heading up for breakfast. So, I offered to go to breakfast with her. She’s the reason I got breakfast that day. I got chunky hashbrowns, and toast (which I saved for later because the butter hadn’t melted, and my friend came up with the idea of heating it in our toaster oven. I wound up eating it the next day, colder and less satisfying toast than it was to begin with, too afraid of the bustle of the shared kitchen to use the toaster oven). So I suppose it, too, hashbrowns and toast uneaten, is a “breakfast of champions”. After we shared the weird donut, which I later realized was a chocolate danish misrepresented because they hadn’t had the correct sign out, we went back downstairs. I decided I’d get some work done. I felt genuinely productive for the first time in awhile

Then, came work. My 3’oclock responsibility. I found that my anxious thoughts had spiked, and I found myself insecure about my every move at work. The creaking roll chair, and my clacking keyboard as I worked on a digitization project. During my break I was supposed to go over to the near building and get dinner, but I just sat and let myself feel. I didn’t want to eat anything even though I knew I was hungry.

At the end of the night, I got back to my room. I had been overwhelmed by the day, and I wanted to sleep but work had been busy. I had an entire assignment to do, and I still didn’t want to eat. Somehow, my morning inspiration came back. I had a donut that had been sitting on my desk for a couple days, still in the packaging but stale. I decided I was worth a meal. A “depression meal,” but a meal nonetheless. A dinner version of the breakfast of champions.

Thus;

I feel like this is what our “Breakfast of Champions” is. It’s recognizing the “good enough”, the days we don’t want to get out of bed but do and make it through the day. The days we need friends to get to breakfast in the first place. To keep us accountable, to keep us healthy. The times we put down our acts of self destruction, and pick up a flower. Putting the thoughts to rest. Knowing the corpse of thought is one like in the horror movies. Knowing it will awaken. Mourning it anyway. Wishing you could do better, but knowing that it's life makes you stronger.

2/04/2018 - Today, I had cucumbers and blackberries with iced coffee for breakfast. Not the best breakfast, but good enough for someone who used to never eat breakfast. Contextual goodness is important, too. A breakfast of champions is an ode to doing our best, even if our best isn’t the best in the world. To chocolate cake, and donuts, and cold pizza. You are good enough when the going gets rough, but you don’t have to be everyday. You will overcome, but we won't forget how important you are in our growth.