Six weeks into my Flying Feet program and after one of my runs I found myself feeling overly exhausted, with a sore throat and was trying not to think about it. I was doing SO well!! I was actually enjoying it too! Sure enough, this wasn't just a sore throat though... slowly became bronchitis, and I was out for 2 weeks.
Now, within the two weeks' time, I debated every single day... I feel a little better, maybe I can do just an easy run... then went through double the guilt and frustration when I decided the smarter thing would be to wait until all of the cough and phlegm was behind me.
I am thrilled to be back at my training... however, I wanted to take the time to write about this because it's something we can all relate to- taking time off while working towards any goal, after working so freaking hard to keep moving forward, is not only really difficult, it is unbelievably frustrating. I am an intelligent person; I knew it'd be better for me in the long run to take the time off, get better and come back when I was really ready- and I'm so happy I took the time I needed to be able to do that.
However- at no point during my time off did I want to do that- no matter how much I knew it was better, I wanted to get out there. I immediately felt like I had just ruined everything I worked toward for 5 weeks. I felt so frustrated because there's this common idea among people who are striving to make major life changes- people tend to go with an All or Nothing approach. So it was easy for me to think: I missed 6 runs, I should just forget this marathon and eat my favorite sinful guilty pleasure, fettuccine alfredo, all day, every day and get fat and cry about it. However, like I said, I do have an intelligent side to me- so I knew I should just calm the hell down, get better, and rock it when I was ready.
The All or Nothing approach doesn't work, so just forget it. It engages too much emotional reaction to every sort of speed bump you run into- i.e. "omg, I messed it all up, I'll just go back to my old ways and feel extra badly about my lame attempts".
There should be more effort placed on a balanced approach to any big changes we're trying to implement... we should be able to work through speed bumps- just like in an automobile- we're making forward progress, but we are forced to put on the brakes, only to get over the hump without any damage, in order to be able to move ahead without any issues.
And furthermore- if for some reason this speed bump hits us harder than we anticipated- and now we're forced to move ahead with our goal a little slower than originally thought- but we do not let it become a road-block- we should be able to tell ourselves that's okay... we still made it out on top- we should still celebrate that we made it through!
No matter what the situation... sometimes that's all we can do... make it through... and that's always something to celebrate.
Good work lady! I like what you have to say about getting to our goals even if we have some unexpected detours! Very excited for you!
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