RACE

Happy new month guys!

May you find the courage and strength to keep believing and living your dreams, every single day!

So, I enjoyed writing this piece and hope you’ll find it beautiful too.

 

RACE

I woke up early and decided to exercise – I usually would do a brisk walk which on an average would last for about 1hr and 20mins. On my second and final lap, back to my house, I saw this big chested man who seemed like he was on his way to work. He had a body hugging black t-shirt and a brown khaki trouser with some work black shoes. 

He got out of the street adjacent to where I was exiting from and as soon as I crossed over, we were on the same lane. He was at first almost right beside me and suddenly I felt this pump of energy from him. He walked so fast like he was also exercising.

I was tempted to catch up with his speed but his strides were longer. The more I tried, the more I felt tired and my thighs were beginning to hurt. I thought he was intentionally trying to start a ‘silent’ competition between the two of us. Then I said to myself, ‘you don’t know where this guy is coming from – his energy level might still be very high, probably because he just started his walk.’ Almost immediately, another thought came to mind, ‘What if his destination is shorter or longer than yours? What if you are wrongly thinking he is in a competition with you? You obviously don’t know where he is coming from; neither does he know how far you have walked up till this point.’

I was still in my ‘feelings’ when the man suddenly stopped, turned and said, ‘great walk, well done!’.   At that moment, I almost was going to laugh out loud and say ‘you see!’

I went on with my exercise thinking the following to myself:

1.    It’s okay to be motivated to do more but never let the other person be the sole reason for your push.

2.   This might sound cliché but really, be in competition with you only – nobody else.

3.   Sometimes, we just sort of unnecessarily drive ourselves crazy; because the person(s) we are constantly competing against might be running a sprint race while your journey is a marathon – vice versa.

4.   Take it easy on yourself. Most people don’t know your journey. They don’t know your struggles. They have no idea what you’ve done to be where you are at the moment and you probably don’t know theirs either. Each man to his own race.

5.   Know your capacity and your limit. It’s good to push yourself beyond your comfort zone. Yet, be wise and be sure you are doing that for the right reasons.

6.   It’s okay to receive compliments, great to encourage those behind you and also fantastic to celebrate your little wins.

I got to my gate about another 30 to 45mins after this man had stopped and perhaps continued his day with other activities.

So, today and always, I will choose to be in competition with one person only – ME. I will continuously drive myself to be the best version ever developed, I will take time to celebrate and encourage others and I will remember that the race is not always to the swift or the battle to the strong nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favour to the learned; but time and chance happens to them all.

Love & Light,

TA

P.S - If you find this helpful, please do not hesitate to share💕.