I am just home from a long and excellent workout in Ann Arbor. What I like about the drive is that I have time to think about the journey before and after….time that I am finding quite beneficial. Tonight I was reflecting on ”It’s not the achievement that’s important, but what you become in the process of achieving that’s important.”
Today I embarked upon the stairmaster and was having a conversation with myself as I did. I had let anxiety get the better part of me this past Saturday. Tonight I knew I could conquer this machine…and I was determined to do so. Demond set the program to rolling hills on level 6 and set the timer to 20 minutes. I set my eyes on the black wall ahead of me and found my workout zone. I felt pretty good at 3 minutes and 6 minutes and 9 minutes. At about 12 minutes I started to feel more maxed out. Demond assured me at 16 minutes he would slow it down. I set my mind to it again and at 15:50 was sure I could finish strong (now I realize I had set 16 minutes as the finish, not the 20 that was my true goal). At 16 minutes I glanced at my heart rate and was surprised that it was 180 and instead of choosing to be amazed at how good I felt and how many calories I can burn at 180 beats per minute, I started to wonder if I would really survive at 180 beats per minute! 🙂
Demond came over and I was sure he would bump it down a level or two but he had changed his mind, and it was evident within seconds, that I had “decided” I could not go any longer. Now, during my drive home, I wondered how I could be going strong at 15:50 and not able to take another step at 16:10? I jumped off a time or two, only to realize if I was going to opt for that, Demond was going to start the 20 minutes over, and so I jumped back on and finished it up.
I am amazed again how powerful the mind is in the small spaces of the day-to-day. My mind can be my greatest friend or my worst enemy. My mind can be a place of profound truths or sneaky lies. My mind can remind me of my strength and beauty or my mind can tear my thoughts and spirit to shreds…..
I want to nurture my mind and consider its thoughts so that I can trust my mind to see me through in the last four minutes of the tough workout….
How would your mind due when you begin to believe you are at your capacity?
I could not have expressed this better… Trish, you are doing awesome!