Wednesday Rant: Stop Defeating Yourself!

I have noticed a lot of people talking about getting older and falling apart. I finally have my shit together and now my body falls apart.

I have a 40/50 year old body but in my mind I’m still only 20.

I have uttered comments like these as well, although I like myself much more at 40 something than I ever did at 20 something.  I was insecure and immature and at times a down right wretched person – but that story is for another day.

I’ve been pondering over why so many people feel this way.  Sure our bodies felt good when they were only 20 something years old. We were young, didn’t have too many miles, and still had that new car smell. In spite of the shitty food we ate and copious amounts of alcohol we consumed and late nights and lack of sleep, our bodies never really gave us any grief.  Unless we over did the imbibing and then it spoke up and demanded our attention for at least a few hours…reminding us that if we weren’t nice to it, it could rebel.  So we flash forward 10 – 20 – 30 years and catch ourselves complaining about our bodies falling apart. This just has irritated me lately and honestly when you talk that way, it even makes you sound old.

At some point in history, in my not so distant past, I attended a ‘Word of Faith’ church.  Don’t hang up on me yet.  Stay with me. Regardless of where this particular denomination of Christianity was off base, there were a few valuable lessons that have stuck with me.  Even secular/atheist teachers agree with some of these teachings.  We were taught about the power of the words of our mouth.  How the things we say become what we have – Believe and Receive.  If you continually say, I catch every flu bug that comes down the pipe, Guess what? You’re probably going to catch every flu bug that comes down the pipe.  You’ll get every virus from every snot-nosed neighborhood kid, every slimy grocery buggy, every coughing bank patron, and every ebola-carrying passenger on your plane.  Our mind is a powerful beast and can you see where this is going and how it’s going to tie into running?  This is getting good.

Sometimes we utter little phrases and don’t realize that pretty soon, we end up with the things we have been casually letting slip through our lips.  Here’s a few examples:

This job/these kids/this traffic is a pain in my neck, butt… (be careful here)

He/she/you make me tired.

I am sick and tired of (fill in the blank).

You make me crazy.

I’m so stupid/clumsy/forgetful.

Or …My body is falling apart?

How many of you have an actual pain in the neck or butt? Or find that you’re tired/stupid/clumsy or forgetful? How often do we get into the habit of talking negatively about ourselves or berating ourselves, rather than speaking well of ourselves?

Are you still taking care of your body the same way you did when you were younger? Did you consider that maybe the way you have fed/abused/neglected your body is why your body feels like shit now? Remember that lovely declaration that if you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got? There’s also that thing about doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results = insanity. Yes you run and exercise on a regular basis and that’s good.  But are you still eating crap? Are you drinking a lot of alcohol/coffee/soda/energy drinks? Be honest.

Running is 90% mental they say – whoever they are.  I don’t know if it’s really that high, because if I want to continue running day after day, week after week, and year after year, I need to pay attention to the physical aspects.  But it is very much a mental activity.  Our bodies are capable of some amazing shit.  I ran a 50k in September with little to  no physical repercussions. How the hell did I do that? I just knew I was going to finish. I may have doubted my sanity in signing up for the damn race, but once I crossed the start line, I knew I would cross the finish line.

So stop talking about how old you are.  If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all. Getting older isn’t a curse or payment for prior trespasses. It’s a blessing. A gift.  Not everyone gets to be older.

Okay.  I’m done now.