Wednesday, April 13, 2011

I wish I wrote it.

As I was digging through some things in my office the other day, I found this.  I cut it out a while ago from who knows where, when I was doing triathlons with a bum hip.  As I re-read it I realized that it still applies.  My situation may be different, but the meaning still applies...

A Flowchart for Crossing the River

Get out there and start to exert yourself.
Go long or go hard or both.
Begin to experience pain.
As you go further and/or harder, the pain increases.
The pain starts to annoy you.
You assess the pain: is it injurious?
If not, then you make a conscious decision to accept the pain.
You don't mind the pain.
You don't care about the pain.
You are not attached to the pain.
Finally, you accept the pain.
The pain just is.
After acceptance, you realize that the pain doesn't matter.
Without it mattering, it can't contain or control you.
You have transcended the pain.
Now you can do anything.
Here's the critical part: As you go further or harder, the cycle can either by repeated or not.
You decide.
It's your pain.
Go with it.

-Chris Kostman

We may not be able to always choose what happens to us, but we always have the choice how to deal it it.

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