How to fall in love with the hard stuff
I HATED running. It always felt hard and dreadful - so I never really wanted to do it.
But now, I think I found the secret to falling in love with the sport and what you’re about to read can apply to anything you try to do in life.
With the help of the Nike Run Club app, I was able to break through the initial dread and learn how to fall in love with the sport. If you run consistently, you can call yourself a runner!
I’m now on day three of my 14 week challenge and just completed an ‘easy run’ which is also known as a recovery run.
Today, the focus was on one word; ‘easy’. It can be misleading sometimes, making us think that if it’s easy, it’s not effective or that it might not have a big impact on what we’re trying to achieve.
What we don’t realize is that ‘easy’ is an effort, not a level of difficulty that determines our results.
It’s something that is constantly changing as you grow to new standards.
And as you continue doing what you do, your easy effort changes as you grow.
‘Easy’ one is the most important part of any process because it sets up our foundation for doing eveyrthing else.
If we can’t do easy right, how can we expect to do the hard right? And with every easy win, our mind and body can learn how to do things to completion so that we can enjoy the feeling of wholeness.
Once you start collecting the easy wins, everything else starts to roll and motivation tends to come in droves.
Why are easy runs or recovery and so important?
When you try to run hard every day, you won’t be able to run hard when you need to. - Coach Bennet from NRC App
Everyone needs to recover mentally, physically, and emotionally, so they can be operating from the version of themselves when they do try to run those hard ones.
You can’t recover with every stride, or with every kilometer when you’re hurting, in pain, or out of breath all the time.
And you sure won’t want to get back on that start line again if you’re not even enjoying what you’re doing.
When you’re not enjoying what you’re doing, you won’t be able to consistently get out there, feel brave enough to get out of your comfort zone, and move on from failure to further without any loss of enthusiasm!
The worst thing you can do is hate your runs. This is why so many of us don’t get on the start line and continue with what we start.
Just after the 3rd day of training, I noticed my pace was picking up even though my effort wasn’t. My body was starting to take a mind of its own and the easy pace became even easier. I would start to go faster and feel stronger with every stride even though I wasn’t trying harder.
Easy does it mean slow, easy means a lower effort at the beginning.
We may start something at a slow pace but it doesn’t mean you’re going to go slow forever.
Your body will start to kick it up a notch automatically and there will be a magical moment where you notice that you’re actually going faster than were you were before without trying.
Your run should be guided by effort and your peace follows effort.
There are so many coaches out there that try to get you to love things that you hate so that you can become the best version of yourself.
As a coach myself, I feel that part of the process is getting you to love what you do so that you can enjoy the process and operate from the best version of yourself every day.
By doing this you can create intrinsic motivators that keep you going, growing, developing, and smashing through your worthy goals with or without you me your life.
This is how transformation happens and everlasting change becomes part of who you are.
I aim to help every person I meet fall in love with their authentic selves and their lifelong journey of growth.
I won’t try to change who you are complete because this would be completely unnecessary.
Often what we want to do in life, is only 1-2 degrees different from what we’re doing now.
Love is the key.
As corny and sappy as it may sound, love is the secret.
The only way to reach your full potential and success is through love. Your love for yourself, for the process, for those around you in your life, and that story called life you’re writing every day as you grow into what you want to be.
If there’s one thing I want you to remember, it’s that it’s not always going to be easy, but doesn’t always have to be hard.
If you haven’t noticed, we are all in this together more than you might think. We all share a common goal, and we all feel common efforts. We can all feel easy at one point - although the definition of easy is different for each of us.
We all know the hardship that comes with struggle and we’ve all probably had success at some point in our lives. It’s up to you to use your past experiences to buildup yourself and get on the next start line.
Find a community that lifts you up, one that will support you and bring the best out of you.
After all, you are the average of the five people you hang around with the most.
So what are you waiting for get on that start line, do the things you know you need to get done and start moving towards completion so that you can build up momentum towards your ideal self and best life!
Grateful for you,
Alex
