Endurance, capacity for greatness and... boredom
Why are promises to oneself easier to break?
THINK. 'Every action has an equal opposite reaction'. Newton's Third Law made it to 'Hamilton', a contemporary musical about the beginnings of America as we know it today. Yes, we saw it too and understandably, it was nothing short of phenomenal. Only a great creative mind can rap the history of American Independence into songs and dance routines that remain as earworms.
The opposite reaction I am contemplating has a different origin though. It struck me how often our most pronounced strengths, qualities that let us overachieve and differentiate above and beyond others, are also becoming our inseparable burden. In my case, I think, it is capacity for discomfort, otherwise known as resilience.
It must be no coincidence that my sport activities gradually evolved into long distance running and road cycling. The internet is full of (anti)inspirational quotes describing pain and suffering that are intrinsically linked to high performance in these disciplines. Yet, these are somehow irresistible too. Partially self inflicted, they respond to innermost desires to earn your place.
FEEL. Capacity for discomfort must be somewhat linked to capacity for greatness, and vice versa. When work, race, relationship, or learning becomes hard, to the point of breaking, it is when we must mobilize to endure. It is crucial though to understand the course must be corrected once we cross the top of the climb, otherwise even the greatest capacity will run out of fuel. Best if you have a coach on your side who can help you notice. That coach is most often somebody who truly loves you.
Unsurprisingly, the embroidery of our inner patterns is hard to eradicate. Built over the span of our lives, weaved into all the accomplishments, it becomes inseparable and turns into yet another lynchpin of identity. We might be worried that stripping out the capacity for suffering would undermine capacity for winning. We are often afraid to see what is left when this is gone.
DO. Not a fan on New Year's resolutions, there is never a better day to start changing things than TODAY. Patterns transform slow. Often, rather than trying to change the sea waves, one is better off finding a right vessel to cut through it and reach safety of a shore. What is my vessel of the week then?
Boredom.
Healing takes many forms. Slowing down is never easy when one is used to be non-stop. A Hamilton line rings in my head: 'How do you write like you're running out of time?' How do you write like tomorrow won't arrive?'.
Well, sometimes, you just don't. You let the boredom in and empty the stage.
