Source: anchoredfaith.com
“Encouragement is the fuel on which hope runs.”-Zig Ziglar
I bet it’s getting harder to see the goal, bet a hundred reasons are turning up why today is not a good day, maybe it’s all you can do sometimes to get out of bed these days. If only I were a betting kind of girl.
We don’t have to search very far to find a thousand reasons everyday why we should give up; forget running, forget this cold, forget goals. Afterall, there’s always tomorrow – tomorrow when it’s not so cold and I’m not so tired and pissed off and busy, maybe then the sun’ll shine and I’ll feel motivated. Then, I’ll work extra hard, I’ll make up, I’ll double down, I’ll recommit.. tomorrow.
How well I know, seeing as I’ve been there all too often this season. Like most runners do, I know how feelings of discouragement, failure, disappointment, weakness, incompetence, dejection, not-being-good-enough, can’t-measure-up, not-having-what-it-takes, low self-confidence and a host of other negative emotions, how they can play havoc with your self-esteem and plans. If you ever thought that you are the only one, I beg to differ and welcome you to the club of misfit runners, the imperfect and always striving to be better, work-in-progress that we all are. It is a condition that we suffer from called being human. Frankly, you don’t get through life without having been subject to it at some point or another, and what better time to fall victim to its charms than winter.
Some call it winter blues, maybe an extreme case in some instances, but true blue, down and dirty feelings of just chucking it all to hell for the day, the week, the season or even forever. Thing is, if you really stop and think about it you’d recognize it for what it is and you’d be better for putting it right where it belongs – under your feet. Yes, you’d strap on those running shoes anyway and hit the road, if only for the mere reason of silencing the voices in your head. Later on with a clearer head, divested of all dastardly thoughts as running is wont to do, you can better appreciate how therapeutic the use of negative emotions can be. But then that’s partly why we run, to be free of the natural worries that we encounter and to be able to embrace the person we are in the present while giving what we have to give in the moment we can. And if for some reason there’s nothing to give in that moment or that day, please know that it’s ok. You are entitled to throw a winter pity party, at most once, then you pull yourself up and high-tail it out of there. Just like the Spring will come, it too shall pass. There is a lot to look forward to, lots of running to get done and lots of medals to be won. It really is all a matter of perspective. Run encouraged.
runningwithfaith 