I think the main point that Dirtymangoes made was that almost everything we do falls into the category of "wants". Almost nothing that is done in western society falls in the true category of needs. Thus doing triathon/IM or lifting weights or shoveling the driveway to perfection, or the trip to Disney or Cuba, or getting the PhD dissertation done...all of these are wants. You truly don't need any of them.

On Monday I was at Ottawa airport and was fortunate enough (by coincidence of timing) to greet a family from Syria coming here. All they had was mom and dad, three kids and three suitcases and big smiles on their faces. All they needed was food, shelter, love and safety. They were the happiest people in the airport. I hope "we" (collectively) can help them in their new life, but at that moment, they had everything they needed. Now they will have challenges adjusting to a new society and the challenges that presents and will miss home intensely, but they will quickly move past needs to wants and their wants will be different than ours. My dad's wants as an immigrant 51 years ago was just to keep his job and build a life so his kids had opportunities. My sister and I literally never lived a day where we had to worry about basic needs. I am certain that my dad views me "squandering time doing triathlon" rather than going higher up the corporate food chain with all the energy as a wasted opportunity to do things in the world that immigrant parents tend to value....but going up the corporate food chain, or trying to Kona qual, or "wasting time" coaching kids in sport.....none of these are needs. They are luxuries of living in an advanced society.

as latest ST article, life after IM? yes, its called much harder-man!

http://www.slowtwitch.com/...en_X_event_5641.html

I was in the sport aggressively for 4 years and did few IM's to include Kona. Had to move overseas where I couldn't train as much and the returned a couple years later. Time off allowed me to refocus and find that balance so I wasn't obsessed. As you know full IM training can be all consuming. It started to be work and not fun. Recommendation is to train with quality and not quantity which equates to smarter training so you can do this longer. Mix in some non tri stuff like Ragnar races or mountain biking to keep things fresh. Good luck!