I post a lot about running on Facebook. I share details of almost every run. I am that girl.
I do it partially to hold myself accountable in my training. I have a schedule that I need to stick to. I need the inspiration that likes and comments provide.
The other reason I do it is because I never thought I would be here.
When I was in college, I faced a health crisis that took a long time to identify and resolve. During that time, fatalism, drama and self-absorption combined in such a way that I could not see beyond the pain I felt in the moment. When I thought about the future it was in abstract terms. I wanted jobs, marriage, family, a future but I couldn't really see myself with any of those things. I was sick. I was in pain. I figured I would die and that would be it. The end. No future.
But I didn't die. My health crisis was diagnosed and resolved. Jobs came (many, many, many jobs). I got married. We traveled a long path to family. I began to see a future with me in it.
However, my old way of thinking still persisted. Doubts, "I'm not strong", "I'm not good enough", "I can't do this", became the soundtrack in my head. So I didn't do anything. Well that is not true. I did lots of things halfheartedly. I couldn't stick with anything because I wouldn't do it right. Try this. Quit this. Try that. Quit that. Think about trying that other thing. Don't try that other thing. What about ...? No, never mind.
Few years ago I had a wake up call. I had to change my way of living. I couldn't do it anymore. It was exhausting. I was mentally, emotionally and spiritually dead. I might as well have been physically dead. So I stopped, surrendered and changed. Slowly, sometimes almost imperceptibly, I became a new, better version of myself.
As I got stronger, I saw that I could do things. I could do "easy" things. I got up, I made my bed, I fed, clothed and took care of my kids. I did life. I wondered about the hard things. Could I do them too?
Running is a hard thing.
It seems easy enough, moving at a pace faster than walking. But it's not easy. I have to push my body past it's comfort zone, take more steps, go farther, move quicker. The mental challenge is equally tough. I have to convince myself that my mind is lying. The familiar thoughts of "I can't", "It hurts", "No more" play like a broken record. Those are fears, lies. They are not truth. So every time I am out there I have to tell my mind to shut up. "No! I can do this." "I am strong."
The running posts I share are not boasts. They are my way of reminding myself that I am here. I am doing. I am living.
I do it partially to hold myself accountable in my training. I have a schedule that I need to stick to. I need the inspiration that likes and comments provide.
The other reason I do it is because I never thought I would be here.
When I was in college, I faced a health crisis that took a long time to identify and resolve. During that time, fatalism, drama and self-absorption combined in such a way that I could not see beyond the pain I felt in the moment. When I thought about the future it was in abstract terms. I wanted jobs, marriage, family, a future but I couldn't really see myself with any of those things. I was sick. I was in pain. I figured I would die and that would be it. The end. No future.
But I didn't die. My health crisis was diagnosed and resolved. Jobs came (many, many, many jobs). I got married. We traveled a long path to family. I began to see a future with me in it.
However, my old way of thinking still persisted. Doubts, "I'm not strong", "I'm not good enough", "I can't do this", became the soundtrack in my head. So I didn't do anything. Well that is not true. I did lots of things halfheartedly. I couldn't stick with anything because I wouldn't do it right. Try this. Quit this. Try that. Quit that. Think about trying that other thing. Don't try that other thing. What about ...? No, never mind.
Few years ago I had a wake up call. I had to change my way of living. I couldn't do it anymore. It was exhausting. I was mentally, emotionally and spiritually dead. I might as well have been physically dead. So I stopped, surrendered and changed. Slowly, sometimes almost imperceptibly, I became a new, better version of myself.
As I got stronger, I saw that I could do things. I could do "easy" things. I got up, I made my bed, I fed, clothed and took care of my kids. I did life. I wondered about the hard things. Could I do them too?
Running is a hard thing.
It seems easy enough, moving at a pace faster than walking. But it's not easy. I have to push my body past it's comfort zone, take more steps, go farther, move quicker. The mental challenge is equally tough. I have to convince myself that my mind is lying. The familiar thoughts of "I can't", "It hurts", "No more" play like a broken record. Those are fears, lies. They are not truth. So every time I am out there I have to tell my mind to shut up. "No! I can do this." "I am strong."
The running posts I share are not boasts. They are my way of reminding myself that I am here. I am doing. I am living.
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