Giving up. Calling it quits. Throwing in the towel. We’ve all had these feelings before. And, chances are, they may have had something to do with our last diet or exercise venture. For me, I think back to when I ran cross country in my senior year of high school. I had zero athletic experience and no real interest in running but my friends convinced me to give it a try. “It’ll be fun” they said. “It’s not even about the running” they said. And so I gave it a try. During the first warm up on the first day I felt like my lungs were going to explode. I trailed well behind the other girls and thought, “what did I get myself into?” From there, things didn’t exactly end up like a Hollywood movie where the lead character goes on to break school records and become a star athlete. Instead, I cried during one (or maybe two) races and became all-too familiar with being passed by just about everyone. During one particularly memorable and humbling race, the crew started to clean up the course and fold up the flags because they thought all of the racers were done. Fortunately, they were very kind and cheered me on as I shuffled by.
I struggled my way through high school cross country but I didn’t quit. I made lasting friendships, became halfway decent at running and found an eventual love of fitness.
The times when we most want to quit are the times we can learn the most about ourselves and our abilities. Anything worth having and holding onto usually doesn’t come easy or happen overnight. We’re typically our own harshest critic. But if we ease up on ourselves just a bit and learn to accept and navigate the bumps and frustrations that come with change, we’re winners no matter which place we finish or how long it takes.
The last paragraph is only true if your entire chapter is not made up of all females, most who joined the Chapter to lose less that 20 pounds and have No IDEA of what a super large man has to deal with. Especially in a chapter with all women, who don’t appreciate his problems only there own.