Running a marathon is hard.
Taking one stride, however, is easy.
The reason marathons are hard is because they are composed of around 39,733 consecutive strides.
Taking that many strides in a row will take an incredible toll on even the most fit amongst us.
And to those who aren’t fit, prepared, or mentally calloused enough (as David Goggins would say)—taking that many strides in a row simply isn’t possibly.
Until it is.
See, most of us are smack in the middle of marathons right now.
They are the marathons of our life. For example:
- We’re on day 47 of our 2022 goal streaks.
- We’re on day 707 of managing our mental health amidst a global pandemic.
- We’re on day _____ of our careers/educations (I’m on day ~6,022 of being a professional Martial Arts Instructor).
And we have a lifetime of strides ahead of us.
If we start running too fast on any of these days, we’ll impact our performance on the following days.
If we succumb to distraction and comfort and stop taking strides at all, we’ll never finish our marathons.
And while cheering other people on from the sidelines can be fun and rewarding—it pales in comparison to the joy and reward that comes from crossing the finish line ourselves.
The average person lives 25,915 days.
This is your marathon.
Once you identify what you want your strides to represent—your life’s task becomes easy.
Just one stride each day to contribute to the beautiful accumulation of strides that is your marathon.
And no sense in rushing to this ending (your death).
Better would be to find ways to maximally align with and enjoy each stride.
Godspeed.