Like many people this winter, I have been fighting a cold over the last couple of weeks. Like many runners, I was stubborn and thought that I could beat it. I kept running, hoping that my cold would simply “go away.” Needless to say, it did not. I finally surrendered to my cold and took a few days off from running.
While I was resting, I thought about my situation. As athletes, we are taught to be very in tune with our bodies. We are also taught to challenge our bodies so that we can reach our full potentials. Sometimes, since we are so focused on pushing our bodies to their limits, we forget to listen to them. We ignore the signs that our bodies are trying to give us in order to keep healthy. In most situations, if we just listened to these signs, we would get healthy quicker. Sometimes even the healthiest intentions can end up actually hurting us.
I began wondering why we do this to ourselves? Perhaps, like athletes, we have been conditioned to constantly push our bodies to their limits. We are constantly striving to achieve more. But when does this stop? There reaches a point where we must be content with our achievements. In fact, we should even be proud of our achievements. We are constantly told to challenge ourselves, but when are we reminded to commend ourselves?
As the old saying goes, “too much of a good thing can be bad.” This is very true. The key in life is balance. It’s natural to want to push ourselves to achieve our full potentials. However, it’s important that we do so in a healthy way. Although we should not always settle for our achievements, we should still celebrate them. Perhaps we are trying to achieve perfection when all we really want is balance.
So as I lay in bed, sipping hot chocolate, I remind myself that I am doing the best that I can. And, I’m ok with that. In fact, I’m thrilled.
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