When Doubt Sets In
Jun 14, 2020
Do one thing every day that scares you
This is hard. Sport is hard. Training day after day to perform on stage is hard. Sometimes you do everything you can and you end up on the wrong side of the score board. There will be a winner; there will be a loser.
But somehow, it's not about winning or losing. Sport challenges us and allows us to grow in ways that many people do not have the opportunity to encounter in a lifetime, let alone in one training session. We often wonder "Why? Why am I doing this? Why am I training so hard; for what?". When you face one of those days or one of those weeks remember this, written by a woman in her seventh month of her Run Across America near Socorro, New Mexico:
"Mountain ranges have tested my mental capacity to think positively. There is no way around the mountains. There is no way to dig a hole under them and excavate my way through. The only way is to go over these warriors that test my limits.
It is ironic that obstacles, those that are thrust in our face, have an ulterior motive. That motive is to make us doubt ourselves, to raise the possibility of succumbing to fear, and to offer the option of quitting. I have no option but to take on these challenges. They are bigger than me and I need to find the strength within me to battle them. I cannot hit a wall and sit down. I must persist!
When you want something bad enough that is the option you must give yourself - the only option: that you must persist. No matter what it takes, you will push through, climb every mountain in your own way, and come out humbled, wiser, more appreciative and proud human being.
There is not gain if you do not persist. If I break my foot, I will crawl. I will walk using a crutch. There is no quitting. There are a million reasons to keep going, and all the reasons to quit are the lazy ones.
I ran up that mountain with that blasting wind, and then felt proud. I flashed a big smile (literally) on a run when I felt like a blob, and then I felt stronger. Stride on! One foot in front of the other. Find your inner strength. I keep telling myself these mantras. It will all be worth it. I want it badly enough. Do you want what you want badly enough? You should. That is the way it should be. Got get it ... stride on!"
~ Katie Viscoe
Chicken Soup for the Soul - Runners (2010)