Never Forget How Far You’ve Come . . . There’s More For You
In the grueling, hot days of summer almost 20 years ago, while at Bellevue Junior High School, it would not be a surprise to see a band of 12, 13 and 14 year old football players running up the street towards E.H. Crump Stadium located at Central High School nearby. Each week, we were challenged to run the awkwardly large stadium stairs as part of a conditioning program that had a group of teenagers in stellar shape every season. Under the leadership of Coach Rod Gaston, the team was challenged to dominate every scrimmage or football game and he did not want it to be close. During one scrimmage, if the team gained a yard, we were told to do push-ups before they proceeded to snap the next play. As you might imagine, we did quite a few push-ups that day, so the message was clear. Be disciplined and play like the team we were coached to be.
There were many life lessons being taught on the field, but it felt like cruel and unusual punishment at the time. The closer the games were, the more fun he made the conditioning. We’d often run to Central High School, run the steps then run back to our practice field to run more. Those stairs became symbolic for me and I have chosen to run stairs as part of my workouts since that time at Bellevue.
It is quite humbling to take a look back at that time in my life, because it feels like yesterday, but so much time has passed and I have taken many of those conditioning lessons as foundational pieces for the way to live life. I’m not a fan of the treadmill. Running trails is more to my liking, however, the steps have felt like home for as long as I can remember. As an adult, I have once again made running the steps as part of a weekly ritual. While the workouts are rarely easy, they are ones that I enjoy because of the challenge.
At this time in my life, I am in a pretty unique position. The last 3 years felt unreal at times. I have written about them in detail, but they were daunting to say the least. On the back end of all of that, I knew drastic changes would follow. I asked for a challenge and life responded by giving me the biggest test I have ever faced.
Here is the personal development piece in all of this. I do not have all the answers, but I continue my efforts to remain present and focus on what is in front of me to power through. I have met a great mentor and the wise words he shares with me are “discipline equals freedom.” It might sound a bit ironic, but when you invest time and energy in your growth, freedom tends to follow. Whether it is discipline in your daily routine, discipline in your work or discipline in your overall efforts doesn’t matter, what separates those who achieve is the willingness to foster great habits and do the work even when it’s tough. I think about all of it like running those steps. If you take it one step at a time, after a while, you’ll reach the top and be ecstatic you kept pushing yourself to do so. As we work our way through each day, the need to be resilient often shows up in multiple areas of our lives. That is when we have to show up.
I will not call myself a Resilience Guru of any kind, but I have experienced enough to know how tough things can be when you’re at the bottom of those steps in your life. When you look up to see how far you have to go, it’s intimidating and oftentimes, fear, doubt, impostor syndrome or the scary feeling of disappointing others keeps us from moving forward.
I challenge you to commit yourself to the 5 things below, if you’re not already doing them:
1) Practice gratitude every day - write down 5 or 10 things you’re grateful for each morning.
2) Remind yourself how powerful you are each day — through self-talk or affirmations.
3) Write down a single goal to complete every day.
4) Complete a weekly task that challenges you mentally or physically.
5) Breathe — prayer, breath work, or meditation are all powerful — Try this guided meditation.
I have incorporated each of the above in my own practice for quite some time and they have served me well. Think about these steps as you face challenges this week, this month, this year and beyond. Starting from the bottom might seem like a tall task right now. It always does. If that is where you are, you owe it to yourself to fight. We are naturally resilient. Our bodies have the ability to heal. Our minds have the ability to create. Take it all step by step and bear witness to the amazing things you achieve. I can’t wait to hear about it!
