ReMindEd   •   June 18, 2017

Anyone who has ever spoken to me, hopefully got the underlying message that I am in a constant state of learning, improving, seeking truth, advancing more into freedom, and becoming a more freed version of myself. That, and also encouraging others to do the same. I’ve dedicated my life to it actually. And it’s not always been easy to keep this goal at the forefront. Sometimes I want to have a break, sit back and settle, even compromise my convictions in order to have a rest from self development. Running all the time is hard!

I was literally running last week, and had the quickest paced run I’d had for a while. It was easy. There was no resistance. The weather was great. For thirty minutes I almost flew effortlessly up the sand, actually needing to remind myself I had to turn around as I had limited time this day and had to get back. So I turned around and bam…! The strongest head wind I have ever experienced. And after more than ten years of pretty solid running (except each time I was too pregnant to keep going, thanks dodgy pelvis), I’ve had some strong winds. It was so strong, had I not had sunnies on, I wouldn’t have been able to keep my eyes open! Needless to say, it took much longer than thirty minutes to run back to where I started.

The reason it was so easy going the first half, was due to having that same, very strong wind behind me…it wasn’t really an amazing effort from me as I was literally being propelled up the beach. I laughed out loud when I turned, knowing how far I had to go back and at my own arrogance to assume I’d progressed as much as I had, when it had nothing to do with my abilities or progress at all.

The interesting thing is that my Runkeeper app would not reflect the effort I had put in. It looked like I’d run harder the first half as it was faster and in less time than th second half. In reality, I was working twice as hard to run back, but my results didn’t show it. I was the only one that knew.

To anyone else, the stats, or facts, looked different to what I knew to be true.

It’s not a stretch to see where I’m going with this analogy…

Our effort is rarely seen or known or acknowledged. It often is unmeasurable.

But which half of my run was the most beneficial for my body in terms of improving fitness, strength and speed for next time…!? The half where most effort was needed. And which half was I most proud of having achieved? Yep, the head wind did not make me stop, it didn’t take me out. I still won!

This can be transferred into our lives, when we try something new; when we take a leap of faith; when something becomes hard that was intended to be easy; when we are flying along one way and then realise we are turned around. Perhaps like when we feel like we have failed.

I could have gotten upset, been resentful, cursed the wind: “Why did I even go on this stupid run?! See, I knew it wasn’t as easy as it seemed. Curse you wind! But I thought I was doing really well. Why did this happen? Why didn’t I realise it was windy the other way? Why me? I was doing so well. Things like this always happen to me! I’m a failure. I deserve it. I should have known!”

An extreme reaction to wind, but how often do we say or think similar things to similar, random winds, no matter what the ‘wind’ may be.

There is no version of this that is failure

The wind may be strong, but you can get through this! It may be hard, but you can do hard things! Strength is made through resistance; through getting knocked down, but rebuilding from the bottom up; through going through. 

Through through. 

My encouragement is this: #dothrough

‘Doing’ requires action. Do something. Do. Keep going, keep trying, keep running. Rebuild. Restand. Rewrite.

“I am built through every mistake I ever made!”

So, get up, brush off, stand anyway. There is no version of this that is failure. It’s all just an opportunity to rebuild.

Pick up the pieces. You’ll always find more than what you thought you had for the rebuilding. Find strength. Find determination. Find acceptance.

Find hope that you will be okay, because I promise you, you will be okay!

And be #reminded: your effort won’t always be acknowledged or celebrated or even known. But you know your truth. You know how hard you ran. You know you tried your best at the time. And what you know matters. It’s your truth. Yours. And you matter. You matter.

To strength for the rebuild,

Sal x
www.reminded.com.au

@remindedmind

@RemindedMind
Reminded: mind health clinic

Coolum Beach, QLD