More on Reaching the Summit

Most people never run far enough on their first wind to find out they've got a second.
~ William James



After I wrote my last post, I was thinking about all the things I wanted to say but kept out so I didn’t write a tome longer than War and Peace. Then it hit me between the eyes a short time later.

One of my great personal struggles is with my weight. I need to lose weight both for my general health and because the additional weight aggravates other health conditions. So for the umpteenth time, I have restarted an exercise program, and shortly after I published Reaching the Summit I was working on an elliptical machine. It was kicking my butt!

I told myself when I started the workout that I was going to go 32 minutes. At the 14 minute mark, my body was screaming “UNCLE!” Every fiber of my being was saying to just quit. I had worked out every weekday for the previous 2 weeks, helping to convince my mind that was telling me it would be okay to call it day even before I reached the half way mark.

Now I would like to tell you that I used my finely tuned positive mental attitude to redirect my thinking and that I pushed right through to make the most out of my workout. Unfortunately, it wasn’t that glorious on my part.

Initially, I was thinking that I needed to at least make it to the halfway mark of my original goal. When I reached the midpoint, I was still in a portion of the programmed work out that had me in the middle of a harder portion of the program. When the programming reached a point that eased slightly, I decided to finish the easier portion as a cool down.

It was at this point that I remembered the quote by William James at the beginning of this article. I had seen it earlier in the day. It has a great message about pushing through difficult times to reach our goals. I also thought about “reaching the summit”.

I knew that I needed to push to reach my summit. I needed to run far enough to get past my first wind to get my second wind.

When I finished my workout, I felt great. I no longer thought about the pain and struggle I had gone through in the middle of the workout. I pushed through my first wind and did find a second wind at the end. If I had not had time constraints, I would have likely lengthened my exercise time.

Imagine that, I went from wanting to quit to wanting to do more than expected.

Today’s Life Lesson is directly from the elliptical machine. There are many times and many opportunities, both big and grand and smaller and less glorious. My workout was not a major life event but if I had quit early, it likely would have made it easier to quit come future workouts. If I had quit, I might have found it easier to quit when trying to reach the summit in other areas of my life. Maybe I don’t push through some of my daily challenges because I would have taught myself that it is okay to give in when things get a little difficult or don’t go the way I want them to go.

Look in your daily life, where are your little summits that you have to face and conquer every day. Look for the bigger summits. Don’t let the obstacles totally shut you down. Find a way over the obstacle. Find a way under it. Find a way to go around an obstacle. Or even find a way through the obstacle. When things get tough, continue to push through until you get to your second wind. Do these things and it will make reaching your summit easier. Reach your summit and I would be willing to bet the journey didn’t seem as bad as it did when you were at the halfway point.

Keep Smilin’!!

Remember, comments are appreciated. Even brutally honest ones. Just keep it clean and civilized.

© 2009 Eddy Seegers, All Rights Reserved

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