Let’s imagine for a moment a scenario: imagine you once struggled with your cardiovascular health and endurance. Then one day, you found yourself panting after climbing a flight of stairs, so you set your mind to make a change. You decided you would run a marathon. It took a year of hard work, lots of sweat, lots of moments of almost giving up. But you kept pushing, kept running every morning, longer and longer distances each day. You signed up for a race, laced up your running shoes, joined in the crowd at the start line, ran the first mile, the second, pushed through the pain, and finally crossed the finish line after your 26th mile.
It’s easy to imagine the immense pride and sense of accomplishment you’d feel. Now, imagine, in that moment, looking back over the previous year, at which point did you deserve to feel that pride? Was it when you crossed the finish line? Was it during the race? Would you feel proud of the moment you got the courage to pay the registration fee to join the marathon? Was it six months in, when you first ran 5 miles without stopping? Should you subtract a little bit of pride for the moments you wanted to give up, the moments you cursed yourself for ever making such a difficult goal, the moments when you sat on your couch all morning instead of going for a run?
The answer is most likely that you would feel proud of the entire journey—even the first day, when you could only run two blocks before pausing to rest. In fact, you’d probably look back with a sense of pride to even before that first physical step when your shoes hit the pavement. You’d probably be proud of yourself from the moment you decided to make a change for the better—from the moment, while panting with exhaustion at the top of the stairs, that you said, “I’m going to run a marathon.” And looking back from the view at the finish line of the marathon, those moments over the past year of discouragement, self-doubt, and anxiety would all disappear, washed over by pride and happiness. You would be proud of every step, even that first, tired step from the top of the stairs.
This is a simplified thought experiment, but if you look at it, all of life is a journey. Like running, we start with intent, then we act until we complete that thing we intended to do. Yet we rarely feel proud or even self-confident during those journeys. Instead we think, “I’ll be happy and proud of myself when I get this / when I achieve that.” My advice from future you—you’ll eventually be proud of this moment the desire is in your heart, like the moment you decided to pick up your running shoes in the thought experiment, so why not be proud now? Why waste your emotions feeling impatient or discouraged? You’re already on the journey. By setting your mind to what you want, even though it may be difficult, you’ve already laced up your mental running shoes. There’s no reason you shouldn’t anticipate, practice, and live out the joy, pride, and happiness you will feel when you eventually reach the thing you’ve already set in your heart to accomplish. By daring to desire something difficult, you’ve already taken one of the hardest steps in the race.
