Let me be honest with you. The first time I tried to take up running, I was out of breath, miserable, and I hated it. Seriously. I hated life. It felt like my lungs were about to collapse. I was a mess. Now, I run regularly and I feel like a million bucks. In fact, I do not think my day is complete, unless I have run. What accounts for the difference? Well, let me tell you. When I first started running, it was like pulling teeth.
You have to remember that if you try anything new, you are going to disrupt your old patterns. If there is anything true with human beings, it is this: Most human beings hate change. We tend to get settled in our ways, and if we were to try something new, you can bet that our minds or bodies will put up a fight. In fact, in most cases, it is a combination of both. The good news is running actually recharges your soul as much as it pumps your body up. If you are looking for a truly excellent reason that has nothing to do with health for why you should run, pay attention to the following.
The Essence of Running
Running is really kind of like a metaphysical exercise. It truly is. What I mean by metaphysical is you, of course, engage in a physical activity. You are going to run with both feet. You are going to put one foot in front of the other. You are going to be taking a lot of short, shallow breaths. It is physical at that level, but it is also psychological and emotional because there is a lot of distance involved. There is the certainty that when you start running, your body is going to put up a fight because it is hard on your body to go from a rested state to an agitated or physically excited state. That is exactly what takes place when you run.
The good news is that the essence of running pits you against the world. You are one person on one road doing one thing. If you are able to wrap your mind around the possibilities this scenario present, then it is easy to see, and it would be simple for you to see that running delivers more benefits than merely pumping your body up, getting endorphins going and improving your cardiovascular health. The essence of running is really all about overcoming your mental blocks.
Make no mistake about it. On a physical level, almost everybody can run. Unless you are completely amputated on both legs, you can run. In fact, there are many double amputees who still manage to run. So, even physical disability is not an excuse. Most people have it in them as far as raw potential is concerned to run. However, most people do not run. Why? They all suffer from mental blocks.
In other words, we are only as capable as we believe ourselves to be. If you feel that you cannot run, and you believe it, then you are not going to be able to run. Seriously. Even if you are physically able, your mental block is so strong that the willpower and the ability simply are not there. You have to remember that your physical properties are secondary to your mental properties. You may have the ability and the capacity, but if you do not have the willingness, things are not going to happen. The problem here is that we all suffer from mental blocks. The good news is that by simply adopting running, you can get over your mental blocks.
Unleash the Primal Nature of Running
The great thing about running is that it is very primal. Physical activities do not get any simpler than running. You are one person on the road putting one foot in front of the other. It takes some willpower to put that first foot forward. It takes more willpower to put the next foot in front of the other foot and so on and so forth. The key here is to savor the primal opportunity that you get from running to destroy your mental blocks by consistently pushing yourself against your mental wall and what you perceive to be your comfort zone, you will eventually reach a point where you become victorious on command.
I know that sounds like quite a boast. I know that sounds somewhat like an achievement, but this is absolutely true because I have achieved this myself. When I run, I feel that there are no limits because ultimately the realization will hit you that the only person who can limit you on this planet is not a person with a gun.
It is not a person with a bureaucratfs pen. It is not a person who controls a prison. Instead, the only person who can prevent you from living your life to its fullest potential is you, and the great thing about running is that I remember this, and I am able to push back against this.
By unlocking the power of the primal nature of me competing against myself and pushing against my mental walls, I am able to achieve greater and greater distances. This opens a lot of doors in my life because a lot of the things that I thought I was not able to do, I am able to do now because of the simple lesson running taught me.
In fact, if you are really honest about running, it can only teach you one lesson. The lesson is you have to keep pushing against yourself. If you think you are tired, then you will be exhausted. If you believe you are beaten, subsequently you will feel beaten. If you think you are cramped, then you will feel cramped. It is all in your head and when you realize this lesson, and you resolve to push constantly against it, you will end up redefining yourself. You start redefining what you are capable of, what your limits are and what the boundaries are in your life.
This is a very important and life-changing lesson to me because in one second, I realized that there really is no big difference between Bill Gates and me. I know you are probably laughing out loud because Bill Gates, after all, is a multibillionaire. Bill Gates founded Microsoft Corporation, which is one of the worldfs largest corporations making billions upon billions of dollars every single year.
What could I possibly have in common with him? Well, very simple. We both have potential. He chose to use his potential a certain way, and I chose to use my potential in another way. The difference in those choices led to very disparate results. The good news is that Bill Gates, from a purely hardware perspective, is the same as me. He has the same legs, same torso, same everything. The difference is the software that he chose to believe in.
Running enables you to challenge the software that you are constantly operating in your brain. When you reach 5 miles of running and then your brain keeps telling you gYou canft do it. You canft do it. I am running out. I am going to break apart. This is the end.h You are given a choice. You can either believe your limitations, or you keep pushing against them.
Let me clue you in on a secret. When you push against your boundaries, they expand; they do not contract. They are not set in stone. They do not collapse around you. Your will does not implode. Instead, they expand. You are more expendable.
So, do yourself a big favor and run. It does not matter the distance. Just challenge yourself physically because eventually on a mental level, you will realize that you have a lot of potential, and that potential really is locked into your power of choice. If you opt to reinvent your choices and take better risks and do other things, you may end up with a reality that you can be happier with. The choice ultimately is yours.
There is nobody else to blame. There are no excuses. It is all you, and as scary as that may sound for a lot of people, it is also a message of liberation and hope.