My only exposure to the hurdles was in gym class and even there I saw them as quite an impossible feat. Somehow my body just never was very good at leaving the ground. I am working on that now as I pursue my PhD(Personal Health and Development) but I don’t really envision hurdling to ever be my thing….
But there is hurdling of a different kind that I am realizing I am quite an expert at….
I seem to be quite proficient at setting up and jumping hurdles in my mind.
Today as I set out for my workout, I was on the outside lane of the track. I start to think about the extra steps the outside takes and that I likely won’t keep up. In no time, I am falling behind and feeling out of breath. I am grateful that I can quickly identify this as a mental hurdle alert.
I used to believe that the only option to mental hurdles was to jump them. I have now learned that may be the hardest option. It is quicker and much more enjoyable to quickly remove them. Today, it helped me to speak it out loud and to realize that if I take a deep breath and lengthen my stride, I can really keep up just fine. Although my walking partner was willing to change lanes and that was quite a nice option as well! 🙂
It has been very helpful to realize that my mind can be one of my greatest barriers to successfully reaching my goals. I am working on the hurdles of my mind that appear when it comes to my balance and running during my training sessions. I know my hurdles are not simply related to my training and workouts. Hurdles surface for me throughout every day and may look like negative self talk, lies about myself or others or self-defeating thoughts or fears that keep me from even attempting something at hand.
I am learning that there are places on my journey that I don’t expect to encounter hurdles and yet, surprisingly they show up. I am not sure I will ever be able to eliminate them but I do want to ensure I am very proficient at recognizing them, naming them, removing them, or with amazing grace and ease….JUMPING THEM!
Thanks for this great reminder of the battles we have in our minds. Dealing with one as I type. Your thoughts bless me, dear Trish.