As promised in my last post, pretty much every Daily Tip lately has been about fears and how to face them.
Because today is the day. Today I face mine...well some of mine. Today I'm doing a 40+ mile long run that will go into the night. What am I afraid of? Running 40+ miles. Running alone in the woods in the dark. Bears. Coyotes. Stupid people (it is Saturday, and people often do such stupid things on weekends).
Everyone (including me) says to face your fears, but how? Yesterday's Daily Tip was Step out of your comfort zone. I wrote that because it seems like such a good map for how to face fears.
Step out of your comfort zone. Don't abandon your comfort zone! Just take one step. The idea is to bite off manageable pieces to chew. If you stuff the whole thing in your mouth you're likely to choke. Give yourself little tastes.
Our comfort zones are good; they are where we are comfortable. They are where we know what we're doing. They are where we know we can succeed. They are also relatively safe. We can handle ourselves in our comfort zones, so we are less likely to get hurt.
But, of course, if we stay there forever, we stagnate. If we want to improve, we must step outside that zone.
And that step into the unknown is scary. In taking that step, we must face our fears - walk toward what scares us.
Just remember that fear exists for a reason. Fear is a physiological reaction to a threat (remember Fight or Flight?). Fear is designed to keep you safe. Ignoring it completely would be foolish. Instead, look carefully at it. Break it down into smaller components. Develop the skills you need to tackle each of those smaller components.
In my case, I have a 100-mile race coming up, which right now is seeming like the stupidest thing I've ever attempted. I'm quite scared. But I'm not hiding from that fear. I've broken it down into skills and tasks that I can manage and improve over time.
One of those things is building up mileage - each week increasing my long runs a little more. I'm not abandoning my fear of whether I'm capable of running long distances; I'm gradually building up to it.
Another task is getting more comfortable running in the dark. I will have to run all night in the race. It's better to get a little taste of that, both physically and mentally, before the race.
So today and tonight, I'll be chewing on pieces of my fear. I'm making a reasonable jump up in mileage. And I'm timing the run so that I'll have several hours in the dark. Each piece is manageable. Nothing is overwhelming. It's still scary, but not so overwhelming that I'm hiding in my closet.
The only way fears fade is to face them. And then act, but act reasonably.
Julie
p.s. I'll post on my progress periodically on Facebook & Twitter.
Because today is the day. Today I face mine...well some of mine. Today I'm doing a 40+ mile long run that will go into the night. What am I afraid of? Running 40+ miles. Running alone in the woods in the dark. Bears. Coyotes. Stupid people (it is Saturday, and people often do such stupid things on weekends).
Everyone (including me) says to face your fears, but how? Yesterday's Daily Tip was Step out of your comfort zone. I wrote that because it seems like such a good map for how to face fears.
Step out of your comfort zone. Don't abandon your comfort zone! Just take one step. The idea is to bite off manageable pieces to chew. If you stuff the whole thing in your mouth you're likely to choke. Give yourself little tastes.
Our comfort zones are good; they are where we are comfortable. They are where we know what we're doing. They are where we know we can succeed. They are also relatively safe. We can handle ourselves in our comfort zones, so we are less likely to get hurt.
But, of course, if we stay there forever, we stagnate. If we want to improve, we must step outside that zone.
And that step into the unknown is scary. In taking that step, we must face our fears - walk toward what scares us.
Just remember that fear exists for a reason. Fear is a physiological reaction to a threat (remember Fight or Flight?). Fear is designed to keep you safe. Ignoring it completely would be foolish. Instead, look carefully at it. Break it down into smaller components. Develop the skills you need to tackle each of those smaller components.
In my case, I have a 100-mile race coming up, which right now is seeming like the stupidest thing I've ever attempted. I'm quite scared. But I'm not hiding from that fear. I've broken it down into skills and tasks that I can manage and improve over time.
One of those things is building up mileage - each week increasing my long runs a little more. I'm not abandoning my fear of whether I'm capable of running long distances; I'm gradually building up to it.
Another task is getting more comfortable running in the dark. I will have to run all night in the race. It's better to get a little taste of that, both physically and mentally, before the race.
So today and tonight, I'll be chewing on pieces of my fear. I'm making a reasonable jump up in mileage. And I'm timing the run so that I'll have several hours in the dark. Each piece is manageable. Nothing is overwhelming. It's still scary, but not so overwhelming that I'm hiding in my closet.
The only way fears fade is to face them. And then act, but act reasonably.
Julie
p.s. I'll post on my progress periodically on Facebook & Twitter.
3 comments:
Julie, you amaze me!
I hope the trail is well-marked in the dark. You are absolutely amazing. You are putting my fear of this weekend's 10-K in perspective! But I know it's not helpful to compare...everyone has his or her own challenges. Good luck!
Ronnie, I hope your 10K was fun! It doesn't matter how big or small a challenge is - it's still a challenge. Sometimes the biggest one is getting out of the chair & out the door!
I ended up changing my route during the run so that I could stay on a wider, easier to follow trail. I had planned on ending up back on the trails near my house because I know them quite well. But I found something even better so stayed there, and ran the last few miles on roads to get home. Getting lost was a BIG concern for me.
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