The other day on a long trail run I gradually over the 10 mile run noticed a slight irritation in my right shoe. At first I gave it no thought as I was immersed in the beauty that Maine has to offer but over time the irritation slowly occupied my mindset. The stubborn mind still pushed forward until I got home and noticed not only a pebble in my shoe but a nice size blister had formed. Fast forward about 24 hours later on another 10 mile run about 3 miles in my LB went out and sent me to the ground. The only obvious cause was the pebble from the run that changed my gait over that 10 miles causing an imbalance in my biomechanics leading to tissue fatigue.
I know your wondering what the heck does this have to do with the theme of most of my blog posts. Well in the two days since of non-running due to rehabbing my low back I got to wondering how many times in life do you wake up and attack your day with a pebble in your shoe (not literally but figuratively)? What I have learned in life and especially this year is that we all have pebbles in our shoes as life is never perfect its just what do you do to address the pebble? Do you ignore the pebble hoping that it will just take care of itself? Do you develop a process, goal setting or seek help from a mentor overcome the effects the pebble may have? Have you noticed that your pebble typically turns into a boulder stopping you in your tracks?
Obstacles are a given part of the life formula. There is no way around them. Pebbles in life can fall into any of the personal categories of economical, spiritual, emotional and health. When we ignore the pebbles in any of these categories I can guarantee you that the other categories will suffer. I know to many people that put so much emphasis on money only to have a health scare arise or trouble at home due to ignoring the love and emotional support their family needs.
In the end I can't guarantee avoiding life's pebbles but I can give you three tips for smoothing them out and not letting them grow or steam roll into an avalanche of pebbles.
1. Balance - Life is lived in a balance state. Like mentioned above when you focus too much energy on one element the other facets of life will suffer. The same goes for ignoring a category cause it doesn't seem important to you. I constantly try to evaluate each portion of each category and make sure I am giving each its due diligence.
2. Communication - I could interchange communication for teamwork, circle of trust, family/friends or mentorship as the goal is to have a team that you can always turn to for help. When one stops communicating they turn the world and themselves off to growth. I have seen a person very close to me this year loose his battle to personal demons as he not only didn't address his demons but when offered help with the emphasis of communication he choose to hold everything in and not participate in active therapy thus allowing that pebble to grow.
3. Being present - I made a facebook post recently on a great quote I heard from a kids movie, "yesterday is the past, tomorrow is the future, today is the present and thats why its called a gift". The goal in life in success and dealing with pebbles and potential failures is to always be present. We can learn from yesterdays mistakes but we can't do anything to change them. I have learned not to put much stress into the future as its not guaranteed so why waste energy and stress on something that might never happen. So that leaves us with being present in the moment and controlling only what we can control. If something starts to steer your life in the wrong direction stop for a second and evaluate what you can do and control in relation to corrected the course towards success.
The most important thing to know is that there will always be a pebble in your shoe. Its the actions you choose that will make a difference in what direction that pebble takes. Don't let the pebble grow or be a constant reminder of something negatively affecting your life. Address the problem and move on but know life is defined by constant growth and learning what you can do daily to implement change.
The picture above is me and my motivation for conquering the pebbles or boulders in life.
Make It Count!!!
Great post. If we don't pay attention to the little things, and address them appropriately, they will inevitably become bigger problems. Balance is so important but something I am constantly working on. I hope your back is feeling better and that you still got to enjoy your time in Maine!
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