A DROP FOR YOUR BUCKET: Power of Yet
My legs are so sore. Also, Southern California has more hills than Chicago. I think these two facts might be somewhat related. Well…that plus the fact that I have not exercised with commitment for a few years.
I thought about the importance of commitment and stick-to-it-iveness today. I’m barely running two miles right now, and it’s hard. I was beating myself up a little bit because my mind remembers running marathons and 16-mile trail runs straight up Virginia’s Iron Mountain. I promise I am not exaggerating this in any way whatsoever 😉 Click here for the elevation profile of the race to see just how impressive we were. Sadly, no hidden camera captured the moment to know if my dad and I were running or leisurely hiking and talking while everyone else pranced up the old creek bed like graceful gazelles. I’m here to tell you that we were without a doubt the most graceful gazelles on the mountain that day.
Not today.
Then, I made a choice to say “not today” in a different way. What if not today meant acknowledging that graceful gazelle was yesteryear and not today? Today is today. I’m who and where I am right now, so that seems like a better place to start today than yesterday.
Yesterday still offers lessons today, but I think they’re meant to be inspected closely to make sure they apply. For example, when I remembered today that training for my first half marathon was largely psychological, I realized that my internal monologue of beating myself up today might be the same hurdle just with different words.
Dr. Ashley Taylor from the Center for Connection recently spoke at a parent education night at our kids’ school. I promise to share more about that practice in the near future because I’m a little obsessed. For now, I’ll share that she reminded me of Carol Dweck’s Power of Yet*.
I can’t run three miles without wheezing and walking. . . yet.
I’ll try again tomorrow. . .or Sunday.
Heather Bland CEO, My Refuge House
Inspired by How Full Is Your Bucket?, A Drop For Your Bucket offers a somewhat stream of conscious peek into my brain and heart during my training “adventures”. Between my 40th birthday in October of 2017 and the 10th anniversary of My Refuge House in September of 2018, I will run 10 different races. My hope is to gather friends along the way who will either run with me or cheer us on as we raise awareness about the journey of My Refuge House! I hope you will receive at least drop of inspiration in each of these raw reflections. Thank you for reading and pondering.
