Today I am coming to you eager to share this observation I’ve made.
And I have seen it in myself, and I have noticed it with a lot of the people that I interact with – both in my personal and professional world.
And it’s this:
We are all sort of running out of breath.
Sometimes literally, sometimes figuratively speaking.
And yesterday, after so many have talked about it even in my sessions, I was able to articulate why that is.
We are finding ourselves out of breath because we went into this whole thing – The Pandemic, that is – thinking and being told, that it would be the 400m sprint.
We all stood at the starting line, gathered up all our strength, did whatever it was we needed to do: Shoes ready to go, hair up in a bun & out of our face – and we take off running.
You run like this is the run of your lifetime.
Like your life depends on it.
But you know – from the very start – you know that it’s going to be from here to there.
You can see the ‘here’ and you can see the ‘there’ – and they aren’t that far away from each other.
No matter how many people are standing alongside of you at the starting line, you can tell where you are going and you can tell what that looks like.
Right?
So we took this deep breath, and ran for it.
I believe this is how we started out.
We started out thinking this was going to be a short-term little hiccup in history, we can buckle up and do this thing to be responsible and to sort of take care of each other, take care of ourselves. No problem.
Except that – all of a sudden —
half-way through the race, or three quarters in, it changed.
The race changed – oh wait a minute, we are not just running the 400 meters- this is actually a full-on marathon.
Or, if not a marathon, it’s a half.
So – just kidding with the sprint run.
Here we are now running a long-distance race.
We are going to be doing this for way longer than we originally intended
This is what I noticed.
I am finding and seeing that a lot of us, and a lot of the people that I’ve been talking to , are coming up against this “I am out of breath, I don’t know how to catch my breath, because I planned – the mindset was – this is what it’s gonna be – A short distance thing.”
Now, all of a sudden, it shifted and changed into maybe not the exact opposite – but in terms of how you would plan for it – OR train for it even – now we are talking this is going to be the norm for weeks to come.
Months to come.
But – And this is the biggest problem of it all – we forgot to adjust.
We keep running as if it were a sprint run still.
You don’t stop to get water, you don’t take a potty break, you don’t adjust your shoe or laces.
We are still running on that one breath of air – that we took and sort of held in.
We are still holding it in.
And I want to call you to say – Before you run another step – pause, and realize and take a minute to take in the truth: This is a long distance race.
This is a different kind of run.
And that all those things- that you logically said you wouldn’t need for the sprint, because you can hold off on it for a little bit of time, you need to bring back in.
I know we talked about the B- work – and how that’s enough, and more than enough even during this time.
This is something else that occurred me – along the same vein: “If there ever was a time for this – that time is NOT now” – it’s not time to drop all the things that you do to be able to sustain a long-distance run.
And it takes different skillset/different conditions to be able to pull that off.
You can’t stop taking care of yourself physically, you can’t stop eating.
I just had someone tell me the other day that she gets so immersed in her work, that unless someone literally interrupts her, that she forgets to eat all day.
This is not the time to stop taking care of yourself in those many ways – now that you know this is a long distance run – you can’t afford to stop it.
More so even – You need to amp it up.
So whatever that is for you – If you don’t know – ask yourself the question:
What is it that I need to be at my best self?
Me, myself and I.
Before I even step foot in the world, before my feet hit the ground so to speak –
What do I need to be good?
Is it meditation?
Prayer?
Is it just silence before anyone else gets up?
A good morning solo run?
Or you on your peloton?
Walk every day?
A book?
Is it calling a friend at the end of the day and just pouring your heart out about all the things?
WhatEVER it is – now is NOT the time to drop all those things. It’s time to amp it up.
Whoever said this, or something to that effect (I have a feeling it was Martin Luther? – I could be wrong):
I have a lot to do today so I need to pray more.
Don’t drop it, amp it up.
I know you can forgo on some of these things when you know it’s just a short stint.
You can say to yourself that you can get this done on 4 hours of sleep for a couple of days, we’ll sleep on the weekend.
Or – I’ll pull an all-nighter – Whatever that might be.
Get back to doing those things, preparing for the race appropriately, knowing now the kind of race it is.
You’d never show up on the morning of a marathon having had a huge party the day before, and eating terribly the days leading up to it, and leaving your shoes at home.
You’d also not show up without having done any training.
Though, truth be told, I know a guy that wanted to prove to himself that he can run a marathon without having done ANYthing – just to say he could do it.
And he did it, but he also regretted for a week afterwards.
So, don’t try to pull that off.
It won’t work out well for anybody.
And the other thing is – we need to recalibrate.
So, now that you know the rules of the game changed and you are going to be hitting the pavement way longer than you originally intended –
What do you need to do to catch your breath?
Do you need a day off?
If that’s the case, take it.
Do you need a weekend without opening your computer, and turning your phone off? Do that.
Staring in a book for hours on end or put a 5000 piece puzzle together? Do that.
Whatever it is that you need to do to get back on your feet, do that.
And then remember that the rules of the game changed.
– You can’t afford to stop doing all the things – you need to amp it up and do it – and do it NOW before you literally hit a wall.
So that’s what i got for you today good night all.
