2 Lessons from Hard Things
The day I was saved by a stranger
“Let’s run a Half Marathon together, it will be a fun team activity!” - they said.
That was about 6 months ago and I had all the ambitions in the world to properly train and get ready for the race. Suddenly it was race weekend and I had not really trained at all. My initial gut response was anxiety “There is no way I will last for 21km, I will break something, maybe I’ll get a heart attack, people will laugh at me, I will be the last to cross the finish line… “ those were just a few lines constantly running through my head.
Just arriving in Berlin Mitte was nerve wracking, there were 35.000 runners expected and it was buzzing. They all look so fit! They all look so ready! Fu**********, The voices inside my head were yelling at this stage “Just go home!, Ben”
2h28m later I crossed the finish line. The sun had come out for parts of the event and there were even moments of bliss and joy.
This led me to reflect and here are my 2 big realizations after having completed the race:
The little saboteur voices inside my head will never really go away. During the race, they lasted all the way to the finish line. Even when I was able to see the finishing gate, surrounded by thousands of cheering people, upbeat music blasting and the sun flickering through the clouds as I was running through the Brandenburg Gate, my inner voice was still skeptical.
My learning is to accept those voices and learn to love them, after all they are trying to protect me. However they can’t rule over me. Never!!There was a moment at km 13ish, when I was having a low moment. I grabbed water at the refueling station and had to stop running to actually drink without spilling it all over myself. Somehow I was unable to get back to running. My legs were heavy, I was already tired, it was still such a long way to go… That’s when a random spectator saw the despair on my face. He took a look at my bib which had my name in bold letters written on it and shouted with a big smile “BENJAMIN!!! YOU GOT THISSS!!!” I smiled back at him and finished the race.
When we do difficult things in life there will be tough moments, no way around that. During those times we’re best surrounded by people who mean well. They will make all the difference.
As I am writing this, it’s a few days after the event and I am able to climbs stairs again without making old-man-noises. Looking inside, I feel proud.
Here are my 2 coaching questions for you.
In what moments are your inner saboteurs shouting the loudest? How are you responding?Who are those cheerleaders in your life? Do they know?