· With all that is going on in the world lately, I woke up one morning feeling sad, angry, defeated, helpless and so many other emotions that I have spent most of my life ignoring. Most days I avoid watching the news, but one night I could not help but watch the looting and violence that took place after a peaceful protest in Boston. It brought so many emotions to the surface and, no matter how hard I tried, I could not ignore them anymore. After watching the destruction that happened in the city, I was sad and overwhelmed. Like everyone else, I have been in lockdown for the past few months due to COVID-19 and have spent a lot of time looking at the good in humanity. I’ve enjoyed the creative ways that people have learned to connect and to celebrate life. I’ve longed for the time that the world opens up again and have hoped that we take the lessons we’ve learned and move forward with a more loving “be kind to your neighbor” way of living, but what I watched on the news did not represent love. It was pure hate and evil.
As I sat with my emotions the morning after watching it all unfold, I didn’t know what to do with what I felt. I decided I needed to go for a walk. I try to distract myself on my walks by talking to friends. Walking can be like meditating. It allows my mind to be a little quiet so talking is a way to avoid the inner work I needed to do around the emotions I was feeling. As a person who loves inner growth work, I also love to avoid it at times and this was one of those times, but everyone that I reached out to either was unavailable or did not respond to me.
Thank you to the universe for making sure I had the space I needed for the incredible insights I received on my walk.
Before my walk, I texted a friend and told her that I needed to move the energy that I was feeling inside of me. I told her that I wished I could run.
Let me be clear…..I am not a runner!!! I have been known to run a little on a treadmill and I’ve run in a few 5Ks many years ago. I don’t actually like the sport of running but I do love how it makes me feel when the music is blaring, and I push myself.
That morning, I told myself that I can’t run and, in my head, I went to down the list of reasons why:
· I have a broken toe.
· Pain in both knees
· Plantar fasciitis in both feet
· Pain in both hips
· Lower back pain
Although I am pretty healthy, I have been dealing with a few physical issues and I told myself these were holding me back from running.
As I started my walk, I decided to listen to one of my personal development books on Audible. After about 30 seconds, I realized I could not do any thought-provoking work that morning and decided music was what I needed to help move my energy. I chose my play list and picked up the pace. The sun was shining, and the sky was blue. It was a gorgeous morning and for a moment, it made me forget about all the ugliness in the world. There was no humidity and there was a comfortable breeze that kept me cool enough that I didn’t care if I ever stopped walking.
As I continued, I felt my emotions rise to the surface and without even thinking, I turned up the volume and began to run! I realized my toe didn’t hurt and my hips seemed fine. I was even able to push past the pain that the planter fasciitis caused in my feet. Although I probably only ran for two minutes, it was all I need to feel the adrenaline rush. I immediately started to feel better. I continued my walk and listened to music that made my heart dance. I felt the sun on my face and felt the wind blowing against my skin and after I caught my breath, I ran again. This time I found a way to push myself a little further. I set my sites on a mailbox down the road and as I approached that one, I set my sites on the next one and then the next one. I kept doing it until I needed to stop to catch my breath. With each mailbox as a goal, I pushed myself further than I thought I could go.
Ø It wasn’t about how far I could run.
Ø It wasn’t about how fast I could run.
Ø It was about changing the belief that I had that I couldn’t do it.
How often do you tell yourself that you can’t do something?
I REALLY believed that I could not run. I believed this because it was the story that I told myself. I hadn’t thought to try and change the story or challenge my belief. My story defined my limits and I hadn’t considered challenging them before that morning.
· Who defines your limits?
· What if you had no limits?
· How often do you allow the voice in your head be the one that dictates your limits?
· How often do you push yourself past the limits you set for yourself?
I didn’t run miles. I didn’t run for hours. In fact, I probably only ran a few feet at a time. It didn’t matter. What I did that day was change a belief that I had, and I did it by taking a small step.
What I did was take action!
Taking any type of action is a step forward. Sometimes we think it has to be “all or nothing”. That is never true. It is all about taking just one step forward.
It doesn’t matter what the goal is.
It doesn’t matter what the step is.
What matters is that you take the step.
Stop defining your limits.
Start changing the narrative and the beliefs that you have
What’s one small step you can do today to move yourself forward?
Find your mailbox and run towards it.
One step today and it is one step closer to your goal for tomorrow.
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