When Life Pushes You to Change: Lessons From a Gymnast’s Journey

When you spend your whole life chasing excellence — training, performing, traveling the world — you start to believe you know how the world works. You build your “system” of what’s right and wrong, of what brings results.

But one day, life destroys that system. And you need to rebuild — from zero.

That happened to me in 2014.

The war came to my city.

Everything I worked for was gone.

For almost a year, I was lost. I cried, I blamed, I asked “Why me?” I thought my world was finished. But later I understood — it wasn’t the end. It was the beginning of a different kind of growth: inner growth.

How Children Remind Us What Matters

Now, when I look at my son — he’s three years old — I see pure energy. If he wants something, he goes for it. If he wants to laugh, he laughs as loud as possible. If I tell him “no” a hundred times, he still tries.

He doesn’t care what others think.

He doesn’t worry about mistakes.

He just lives — fully, honestly, bravely.

Watching him, I realize how many adults lose that power. We collect experiences, successes, and failures, and we start to believe the world only works by certain rules. But those “rules” are not facts. They are just our stories.

Sometimes, we need to open our minds again — for new energy, new experiences, new ways of living.

Young people are amazing guides for that.

Where Courage Comes From

I believe courage doesn’t come from being fearless.

It comes from clarity.

When your values, goals, and identity are connected — when you know who you are and why you do what you do — you stop doubting. You stop overthinking.

That’s when you act.

That’s when you’re brave.

That’s when you’re honest — with yourself and others.

But our education system doesn’t teach that.

It teaches how to read, count, and follow rules.

It teaches how to be an employee, not how to be an architect of your life.

In school, no one asks, “What do you love?” or “What’s important for you?”

After ten years of doing what others say, many kids forget what they love.

We need a new kind of education — one that helps people build themselves, not just pass exams.

We need classes on how to be the architect of your own life.

The Moment I Decided to Change

After I lost everything, I felt empty. But I knew one thing:

If I keep doing what I did before, I will get the same result.

So I decided to change.

Not because I wanted to — but because I had to.

I had a family. I had to survive.

I started to say “yes” to everything.

Literally.

I watched the movie “Yes Man” with Jim Carrey — simple message: if you say yes to life, your life changes.

So I did it.

I tried everything.

Some things didn’t work.

Some things hurt.

But one or two things worked — and they changed my direction completely.

I learned that change starts with movement.

You throw rocks in every direction — and see what creates waves.

That’s how I found my new path.

From Cirque du Soleil to Fast Food Corner

Once, after years of performing with Cirque du Soleil, I opened a small fast food corner in Ukraine.

It was one of those “yes” experiments.

I thought it would be easy.

But soon, I found myself standing at a market at 6 a.m. in the rain, holding bags of ingredients, a woman shouting at me, and I thought — “How did I get here?”

I used to perform for thousands of people.

Now I’m here, buying potatoes in the rain.

That moment hit me hard.

But it was also a mirror — showing me who I didn’t want to be anymore.

So I stopped.

I learned my lesson.

Sometimes, failure is just a direction sign.

What I Learned

Change doesn’t happen because of motivation speeches or nice quotes.

It happens when life breaks your old systems — and you’re forced to build new ones.

But here’s the truth: you don’t need to wait for pain.

You can change because of vision, not fear.

You can run toward the future, not just away from the past.

That’s what I believe.

That’s what I teach in Kononov Club.

Because real strength is not in muscles — it’s in your mind and your values.

Be brave.

Be honest.

Be the architect of your own life.

I Believe in You. Just do It 💪

Oleksiy Kononov