Courage before Confidence!

BRING ON SPRING! Whoo hoo! Anyone else ready to plant a garden, hit the trails or even head to the beach? 

I know I am! I’ve  already been digging in my garden and running on the trails. 

Running? Before you get too impressed, let me tell you a story about my running career. 

Decades ago I had a love hate relationship with running. Looking back, I probably ran to burn off the boxes of SnackWell’s devil’s food cookies that I consumed in frightening quantities. (They were fat-free, after all.🤪)

I was pounding the pavement training for my first marathon when my IT band said, “ENOUGH,” just weeks before race day. Teary-eyed, I limped through half of the planned 26 miles and called it quits, for good. 

Yet now, more than 25 years later, I’m at it again.

So, what changed? Well, a few things. I swapped hard city streets for soft nature trails; I have an inspiring example in my ultra athlete partner, Rob; and mostly, I changed my belief about my body’s relationship with running. 

I used to believe, “I can’t run,” but one day, I bravely tried a new approach and it worked.

Now I believe that I can run, so I run! And when I do, I feel confident and strong, which reinforces my belief that I can run. Are you with me?

What we believe shapes our experience, and our experience reinforces our beliefs. 

Which is why I'm ready to scrape the mud from my trail running shoes, download my All-Trails maps, and saddle up the poodles to head to the mountains for a good dose of self-confidence!

But before I go, let me ask you three questions:

  1. What do you believe about yourself? 

  2. Are your beliefs empowering? Victimizing? 

  3. Are they even true?

For decades I believed I would never again lace up my trainers. Then one hike led to another and before I knew it I was running 10-mile trail races. I proved that those sneaky self-sabotaging beliefs were simply scaredy-cat liars.

What you believe shapes your experience, and your experience reinforces your beliefs. 

Do you have some beliefs that could use a little re-writing?

If you do, reach out! Helping people believe in themselves is what I do. And it doesn’t have to involve any type of running 😂.