20
Trust Your Inner Strength

WE ARE ALL capable of doing and achieving more than we think is possible. Whether it’s getting through tough times in our personal lives, hitting difficult deadlines and performance goals at work, or increasing the amount of repetitions and intensity in a workout, we can sometimes do what is seemingly impossible by simply putting our minds to it and pushing ourselves beyond our perceived limitations. But if we don’t trust our inner strength, we may start to shy away from challenges, fail to realize our full potential, or give up on our dreams—all of which can be sources of regret. In the end, it comes down to whether or not we are willing to truly believe in ourselves and our abilities.

Case in point: several years ago I got the crazy idea that I was going to run a marathon. First you must understand that I am not a long-distance runner. Actually I’m not much of a runner at all—in a good month I might run one to two miles every couple of weeks. Plus I run really, really slow. So when I signed up on a whim for the Rock ’n’ Roll Marathon just a couple of months before the race, it would be fair to assume that I was delusional in setting a personal goal of running 26.2 miles.

My training plan was simple: “Run more than I do right now.” During the first week, I did a series of short runs every other day. Then over the weekend I decided to go for a career high eight-mile run to test my stamina. Suffice it to say that by mile five I thought I was going to die. For the next several days every part of my body ached and I could barely walk. Without further deliberation I put the marathon idea on the shelf. Some people are runners, but I was not. I had convinced myself that it just wasn’t in the cards for me. In fact, I didn’t give the race another thought until the night before the event. After a late evening out with friends who joked about how I had signed up for a marathon I was never going to run, a deep sense of guilt and remorse came over me—I had set a big challenge for myself and then chickened out because I didn’t believe that I could really do it. I went to sleep with this weighing heavy on my mind.

The following morning I woke up at 5:30 a.m. without even setting my alarm clock. As I lay in the darkness, thinking how odd it was that I’d gotten up at the same time I would have needed to if I was actually going to run the marathon, two burning questions moved to the forefront of my thoughts: (1) Will I regret it if I blow off this race? and (2) If I don’t blow it off, do I have what it takes to finish it? Certainly, not training, being severely out of shape, and staying out late the night before was not the best recipe for success. But as in the “Run, Forrest, run” scene in Forrest Gump, I suddenly had the inspiration to just start running. I quickly grabbed my jogging shoes and an old T-shirt and headed to the race.

The excitement of doing something this ridiculous carried me for the first half of the marathon. However, soon after that I hit the wall. My natural turtle-like pace became even slower, so much so that an elderly woman who was speedwalking the race with a cane actually passed me. At that point it occurred to me that I either had to give up and live with the regret of not completing the race or find the inner strength to push on. I felt sick to my stomach, dizzy, and winded. But with every ounce of energy I could muster, I made my legs move a little faster and told myself that I would regret it if I didn’t keep going. While it took me six hours and thirteen minutes to complete the race—twice as long as it takes many runners—I succeeded in achieving my goal of making it to the finish line.

Running a marathon without training for it isn’t the smartest idea in the world. But the experience proved to me that when we trust our inner strength, anything is possible. It also showed me that sources of regret such as underachieving, throwing in the towel too early, and underestimating ourselves are potentially avoidable. Whenever you are faced with a difficult challenge or an opportunity that seems out of reach, remember that each of us has the ability to conquer our perceived limitations and fears. Believe in yourself and your abilities, and most of all trust your inner strength.

When you trust your
inner strength,
anything is possible.

∼ What is a big challenge or difficult situation you are struggling with right now?

∼ How can trusting your inner strength help get you through it?