Stopping... not giving up.
You’re in agony… but you just keep putting one foot in front of the other.
You’re gasping for air… but you just keep trying to take deep breaths.
You want to stop… but you just keep moving.
If you were alone, you might have stopped by now…
But it’s easier to keep going when you’re with others.
There’s something about exercising with other people that seems to raise the standard. It’s almost as if we feel safer to venture into the red zone with people around us… and once we’ve emerged, we feel a sense of camaraderie for it.
Resilience is the strength we draw from others
It’s club footy preseason and we were doing hill sprints. I’d give it my all getting up the incline, nearly falling over as I took my last steps, and as I’d walk down to the bottom, I’d already be giving myself concessions for the next one…
“don’t worry, you can take it easy next one, you’ve done enough”
But by the time I’d gotten to the bottom, and because other people around me were trying hard, I emptied the tank again… only this time at the top of the hill, the head noise was even louder!
“nice work, but if you keep going this hard, you might get hurt, take it easy”
Again, I’d reach the bottom, recovering just enough to chase the people around me and venture back into the red zone… encountering the head noise once again.
Resilience as a mindset
A few days later… humbled from the hill sprints experience… I decided I needed some extra work to catch up with the others… so I set out for some self-inflicted incline insanity.
I emptied the tank again… only this time up the hill… the head noise seemed even louder… as if… without all the other people around me, it knew it was the only voice in the room.
Like clockwork, I’d reach the bottom with just enough energy to go again, but as the number of sprints built up, the lag between efforts started to grow, and this time the head noise shifted slightly.
“You’re stopping. you’re giving up.”
In a sense… it was right… I was stopping… but in my heart, I knew how many efforts I committed to and I knew I was going to get to that number no matter how slow.
I was stopping… theoretically… but I wasn’t giving up.
Stopping… not giving up.
When I’m in the throes of hill sprints, I literally can’t see more than a few steps in front of me…
When we’re in the throes of life, it’s the same…
But when we slow down or stop, it’s easy for us to get down on ourselves and reject the bigger picture. If we can zoom out and look at the trendline though… often, we’re still moving forward…
When life is hard… it’s meant to be hard.
You’re not meant to be moving as quickly as you otherwise would… you might need some rest… and as long as you hold that fundamental belief that you’ll find a way to keep moving forward over time, that’s okay.
Connection
The Running for Resilience Community is full of people who hold the fundamental belief that we aren’t defined by what happens to us, we’re defined by how we respond… and that there is always something we can do to improve our situation.
It’s the most sustainable mindset I’ve come across and it’s so much easier to adopt when you’re around others… whether you’re physically at one of our events or if you feel like you belong in our community from afar… it’s easier to venture into the red zone together.
Just. Keep. Moving.
