It’s afternoon and I’ve landed in my favorite coffee cave to sit for awhile and hopefully churn out something fun, witty, educational, and worth your time reading.
Ok… well one or more of those could be potentially true.
It’s a busy afternoon and I’m listening to the low rumble of customer chatter and overhead elevator music. Weirdly, I can often work best in this type of clamor.
Even though the afternoon is still very warm out a hot coffee sounded appealing and it’s warmth is soothing. I wish I could apply the same warmth to my legs that are now reminding me of all their efforts from this mornings workout.
I really don’t mind the tired ache that comes from a hard workout. I’d always take that over the random “aches and pains” I hear people complain about from doing nothing.
Of course this morning was a bit more than a regular workout. If you follow me then you’ve seen some posts where I’ve talked about my upcoming duathlon in November.
Well it’s 6 weeks out to be precise. I try not to let the ever closing in date mentally play tricks on me. I’ve been training hard and I’ll take my best that day to the race. It’s all I can do.
Today was my second time to do it all, start to finish. Each leg of the run/bike/run course.
I’ve done different parts before. I’ve run some of it and biked a lot of it. Last week I put it all together. My plans are to do the entire course once a week till race day.
Even knowing what it all involves, I still take a big gulp before I head out because I have a healthy respect for the toughness of the course.
That old saying “it doesn’t get easier, you get stronger”? Yeah, I’m pretty sure that’s true. My body at this point is stronger for the tasks of the course but it still requires a fierce amount of energy and strength to which I have to remind myself, I have in me.
I have a serious amount of stubbornness that has driven me to get up early and head out to kick my own tail, to teach myself new things and learn from my mistakes. My Mom used to call me stubborn and hubby still can but I think he means it in a loving way, right?? haha
I’ve never viewed that as a bad thing, you know? It was, and is, simply a part of my passion.
Stubbornness hasn’t let me give up on things so many times. It hasn’t let me quit when I was tired or feeling like I wasn’t doing my best. It’s challenged me to push myself to see how far I can go and what I can accomplish. It’s helped me hold on in life when things weren’t easy.
Being a bit stubborn definitely has it’s good and bad points.
Then I came across this quote the other night that really resonated with me and made me think about it all in a different way.
I’ve never quite thought of perseverance and stubbornness being close siblings, but it made me think how perseverance to do something is, and can be, born out of stubbornness.
Perseverance ~ steadfastness in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success.
Where as stubbornness can be looked at as unyielding, or a refusal to give up or change a thought or position I’ve always considered it more in the sense of being passionate over whatever was at hand. Of course there is a line of stubbornness that is more unyielding and a non flexible attribute but that isn’t the way I’m considering it for the sake of this post.
It just made me consider that my pursuit of athletic endeavors has had a healthy amount of stubbornness that hasn’t let me give up or quit. Yet, somehow, in that stubbornness a real honest perseverance has been born from that. It’s interesting to note that perseverance is a synonym of stubbornness.
I love this particular definition on it ~ dogged determination not to change one’s attitude or position on something.
Now that can definitely be a negative, however in the context of this, I see it as a positive.
Not changing my mind on fitness goals, when I was working to lose weight, or anything else related to my health. It’s a good thing to not change my position on my health.
You might be able to apply similar things to your own life. True, you might not be training for a duathlon or training for anything at all. But I’m pretty sure you are moving through this world living your life and I hope you have things you aspire to do or achieve.
You might never want to or have a desire to do a single athletic thing. What if you want to go back to school, pursue a new career, try a new hobby, take on a new “thing”.
Gosh, I hope you have something you’re chasing in this life.
I’ll tell you, it will take some stubbornness on your part, an unyielding to give up on it, and somehow that stubbornness will meld beautifully with perseverance and you will find yourself stronger and more focused in the pursuit of your goals and passions.
When I cross that finish line in a few weeks, no matter what, it will be worth it because I chased down my goals, set higher limits for myself, and have overcome things to get to that point.
I’m stubborn like that.
Tell me do you view perseverance or stubbornness as an asset to accomplish things in your life ? What have you accomplished that you feel like you persevered to get to ?
sassyfitnesschick 