Today I did something that I knew I couldn’t do.
I went for a run. Outdoors. In Florida!
Let me be the first to tell you that I absolutely can’t do this.
I have problems with my hips. I have an injury on my left foot. I have asthma. I have an elevated heart rate. It’s freakin hot here! I wasn’t going to be able to carry my water with me. I tried to do this once a few years ago, and it literally ended in an injury that required medical attention.
I can’t do this.
Except here’s the thing. I just did!
It wasn’t easy. It certainly wasn’t pretty. It took me a while to figure out how to make it work and get into a rhythm – 2.5 minutes running / 2.5 minutes walking. There were plenty of times I wanted to stop.
For three days now I have told myself I would go do this, but I didn’t.
My subconscious tried sooooo hard to stop me again today from trying something difficult. I forgot my brace for my foot that lets me walk without pain. I’m staying at my mother’s home in Florida, so I don’t really know the streets that well and was worried I would get lost. The freakin sprinklers went off as I tried to leave out the back of the house in order to be able to keep the front door locked while I was gone (they’re still sleeping.)
It would have been so easy to let any of these things stop me.
But instead I did something that I knew I couldn’t do.
There are literally hundreds of things today that you are not allowed to do that you did a month ago. The current health crisis has required limits and sacrifices that the majority of us have never seen, experienced or even thought possible.
So yes, there are a lot of things you can’t do right now.
But how many of those things are limits that you are putting on yourself? How many of the things you “can’t do” could be accomplished with a new approach, or by breaking through some fears?
It’s very difficult for humans to feel out of control of their environment. It makes us a little crazy. (Check out your Facebook feed for proof of this!)
Add to the fact that there are very real things to be afraid of right now as we watch friends and family face terrible risks and circumstances, and you could easily think the best approach might be to just put your head in the sand until this is all over. And yes, absolutely, it will eventually be over.
But one of the best ways to Conquer Your Thoughts is to be in charge of whatever it is you can be in charge of; to get out of reaction mode in any small way possible. To stay grateful for what it is that you do have, and to help as many people as you can.
“I can’t do that” is no longer in my vocabulary. It went away this morning somewhere around the fourth round of my run/walk experiment. It has been replaced with “how do I do this?” As well as an approach I learned from author Jen Sincero, “let’s just see what I can get away with.”
Don’t add to the limits that are being placed upon us all right now. Don’t hold yourself back any more than what our circumstances currently require.
No matter how small it seems, go do something you couldn’t do.
And then share it with me! I want to hear about it!
Be Safe.
Stay Healthy.
