It is Monday at 6:30 am. The rain lasted all night and outside looks wet, cold and windy. The night before you decided to go out for a run, you took extra steps to overcome the possible laziness of the day and you even prepared your running clothes and gear in advance.
You manage to get out of bed, prepare a tea, coffee or whatever you drink in the morning and you are almost ready to go out for your morning run. You have a light headache and sneeze a couple of times. In the background, a dim feeling of “not wanting to do this” is present and you struggle every step to walk towards the door, but you still manage to do it.
Finally you are outside, you have been running for 10 minutes and you start struggling again. You feel a pain in your left foot, but your will is strong and you follow the well-known “no pain no gain” proverb. Your inner voice says “you are strong” and you try to push the pain away by focusing on a great song from your curated running playlist.
The next song starts, it is a fast beat song, something like One More Time by Daft Punk [or insert any fast beat song that you like] and you increase your running pace. You start running faster. You love the song. At the end of the song, you start struggling with your breathing.
After 40 minutes you are exhausted, your left foot hurts more than ever and you are just thinking of a morning croissant or something sweet to reward yourself for your effort.
You feel miserable and ask yourself: What happened? Where was the running “high”, like the one from last week’s run?
It is nowhere to be found.
Struggle comes in many forms and flavours. Joseph Goldstein has a very clear way of speaking about it. He says: “Struggle has two aspects. One aspect is that of being a misdirected energy, a misdirected effort. It is like fighting with life. It is the use of our energy in a disharmonious way. But it also has a positive aspect and it is by understanding this positive aspect that we can turn to our advantage.”
Struggle can be a feedback mechanism. This is the key. Whenever you sense struggle, ask yourself: What is this experience? and then, investigate it, become mindful about it. The mind can stay open and balanced in an easier way when there is an openness and a willingness to explore what is, when there curiosity about our experience. This is where Awareness comes in, remember the 4 A’s of Conscious & effortless running.
Look at your mind while you run, the competitive mind tends to be online more often in these moments. At least that is what I have observed in my mind. Look at your thoughts when you feel pain, is there pride or arrogance present? Have you ever been in pain, over-exerted yourself and had an injury as a result? If so, welcome to the club 😉. Here is where Apapacho is important, be kind to yourself 💚
“When we resist what is coming, what is there, we struggle. When we try to hold on, or cling, or be attached to that which is changing, we also struggle.” Joseph Goldstein
References
- The Nature of Struggle. Joseph Goldstein [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-KKFO38fvY]