believe in yourself, believe in your mission, your vision and your purpose…
it’s easy to take a knock and let it have an impact beyond what it ought to have. to allow a small deflection to become a u-turn. to lose heart because things aren’t going as smoothly as you would like.
take my stumble this weekend, for example, now I usually like to keep things positive here, but I will let you all in on a little secret. that fall on Sunday really knocked me for 6. physically it wasn’t as bad as the last time I tripped while running, but somehow I allowed it to have a larger psychological one.
perhaps because 6 inch is so close, perhaps because 6 inch is probably far more brutal than I had allowed myself to think before…
but for whatever reason, there was a chain of thoughts triggered. suddenly I was doubting whether I would be able to take part, then whether I would be able to go the distance, and within cut-off.
this triggered more thoughts – what the hell was I thinking, saying I could cross Australia on foot, and next year? It’s only 4 and a half months to go now… when’s the funding/vehicle/support/food going to show up?
I also started to see people talking about Gold Coast 2015, and that started to make me sad too, because the planned run means I won’t be able to make it to the GC marathon festival…
and so on and so on – spending the day and night drifting between sleep and being anxious about an increasing number of things, some logical, some completely illogical…
I think it’s trail-ultra-maranoia gone really bad – but whatever it is, it stems from allowing my thoughts to drift from massive self-belief, unshakeable faith in my plans, goals and dreams – to a situation where doubt and fear and worry were allowed to slip in through the side door and start to take over…
today I went for a 3km run, it lasted about 20 minutes, and then a little walking after to cool down. the knee held up fine, the body seemed ok, and my pace increased steadily over the entire run, from over 7 minutes per km down to maybe 6:15 or 6:30 per km.
that little run did the trick – suddenly I became aware that I hadn’t damaged myself significantly. sure the surface wound looks fairly grim, but everything is fine structurally. my body had taken a blow, but was seemingly intact.
that triggered a more positive feeling, a knowledge that I can run 3km. if I can run 3km, then I can run/walk 47km, with lots of elevation, “technical” bits and the dreaded “Hell’s Gate” ascent and descent to and from the second aid station (yeah, nice work course designers, you evil people lol)
and that triggered more positive thoughts, pushed fear, doubt and worry back out the side door, down the path, through the gate and out into the road, where it was promptly swept up by a council road-sweeper…
with those things gone, self-belief was able to thrive and shine once more. a realisation that I was in control, that in actual fact not only was I in control, but it was also down to me – various things aren’t going to “show up” if I sit there and worry.
it was back to the cocky confidence pre-stumble, and back to knowing that not only am I going to cross the 6 inch finish line in 7 hours 30 minutes or less, but I am also going to cross Australia on foot between May and August next year, turn NMMFG into a successful lifestyle change business, grow HAA into a force for good, and bring to life all the other goals, dreams and visions that I have for an amazing life of wonder, adventure and awesome experiences…
so the moral of the story? we will always have obstacles, barriers, temporary blockages and enforced route changes… the trick is to only ever see them as temporary, to see them as lessons, or as opportunities to grow and adapt.
the one thing you must not do is allow these things to permanently undermine your self-belief, because self-belief, absolute faith and belief in your vision, is the fuel, the vehicle and the road of success…
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