As I recently made my way to the starting line at a 10K race, I heard snippets of conversation.“I stayed up way too late last night and I’m too tired to do this now!” “I haven’t run all week.” “Oh I should move back – I’m one of the slow ones.” “I don’t even know if I can do this!?!?”
I could feel the anxious energy. I had to wonder why all the negative comments? Why write yourself off before you begin?
My Mom likes to say, “The mind leads, and the body follows.” If you think, “I can’t,” then you won’t be able to. It doesn’t matter if it’s a race, a job or your life. I’ve heard people declare such things about running: “I’m just meant to be slow,” or “I’ll never qualify for Boston,” and so on. And just as frequently others say, “I couldn’t get a job like that if I tried. I’ll just apply for a lesser one.” “The doctors say I’ll never be able to do <fill in the blank> again. It’s depressing,” or, “I’ll never fit into that/be that size/lose weight.”
I’ve later seen those things overturned. Sometimes a person just needs a glimmer of hope and starts to BELIEVE IN THEMSELVES. Then things start to change.
One day, I was running a 400-meter interval that felt right on par. I glanced at my Garmin watch and it said I was running a 4.xx minute mile. I thought, “What??? That can’t be right. There’s no way I can run that fast??!?” Suddenly I felt myself slowing down. My body was doing what my mind commanded. And, try as I might, I couldn’t speed up to that pace again. It was the proverbial self-fulfilling prophecy.
I’ve also had the opposite happen. I’ve had doctors tell me that I’ve had various conditions ranging from thyroid dysfunction to asthma and so on, for which I’d have to take medications for the rest of my life. I chose to find my own solutions and believed I’d one day be totally healthy again. I now need zero medications and have great health.
The only person who determines what you can or can’t do – is YOU. So instead of writing yourself off – start writing yourself IN. It’s just as easy to say “I CAN,” instead of, “I can’t…” Make that replacement, and watch your life take off!!
