(Not) born to run a marathon

If someone told you to run a marathon right now, you would probably jump like burned. Because many people can't imagine themselves running even a short distance, and here - 42 kilometers.

However, if we look at it from another perspective - a newborn baby probably also can't imagine that he will soon stand up and be able to walk from the sofa to the table, from home to kindergarten, and later to school. A marathon seems impossible to him at all, because he can't even imagine that he will be able to stand up and walk.

Indeed, every day we overcome certain distances, both physically and psychologically, but they are familiar to us and often we don't even feel them. These have become our routine, habits that have been programmed into our subconscious through long repetition. We stop and focus only when we feel a larger obstacle that is unfamiliar to our brain. Because that is the nature of our mind, to signal about what is unfamiliar, to reject, to run away from it, because there may be danger there.

So the offer of a marathon would be scary for our brain (unless you are a professional runner and you are training for it). But our brains are incredibly plastic. And if we gave them such a goal, they would do everything to achieve it. A baby is motivated to get up and walk by seeing how others do it, because he wants to pick up a candy from the table himself and it doesn’t matter how many times he has to fall, because he doesn’t yet know that it can be painful. Adults choose their goals more rationally, often evaluating certain aspects, because they already have experience. And although children’s brains are somewhat more plastic than adults’, what if we acted like a baby, just naively, with all our heart we would want to get up and run - we would succeed. Maybe as a baby, not necessarily ideally and immediately, but we would definitely succeed.

The adult brain has already accumulated certain information that encourages us to take on familiar things, but stops us from new challenges and experiences, because the unknown scares our brain “a little”. And how determined we are to take on certain things depends on how much experience, good or bad, we have. Although in fact, each of us could run a marathon. As well as achieve other goals that seem foreign and distant to us today.

And we should start by taming that thought in our head. From a clear vision of what I want, how I will feel when I do it, how I imagine myself then, what the environment around me looks like. When we create a clear vision in our minds and constantly remind ourselves of it, visualize it, our brains begin to get used to that thought and it no longer seems so foreign and scary. Our brains learn by repetition, so when it becomes familiar, it automatically encourages you to take action to achieve that goal, whatever it is, whether it is a real marathon or another personal goal of yours. Because your brain wants that feeling, it wants that experience that you have created in your head. All you will see, all the circumstances, your own actions begin to be oriented towards what you dreamed about. And you realise that that goal becomes achievable, achieved, and the feeling that you visualised becomes real.

I'm not saying that it's easy. Because we live in the context of our negative thoughts and fears, but if you really want it and work on your thoughts for a while, everything becomes possible. And maybe not the first time. Of course, sometimes you may have to step back, because you may not have appreciated one or another circumstance encountered along the way... but if the final feeling does not change, you will continue to find ways to overcome that marathon.

You can overcome, achieve certain goals even thanks to pain, but then you will not feel any pleasure, because you will not have a vision of what you are striving for and what feeling you desire and always a new goal will burn, raise associations that it will be difficult again, it will hurt and you will have to suffer. Maybe that is why many people do not even start to strive for something, because they are afraid of that pain. And if they were guided by a sense of preliminary satisfaction, they would do it with ease and all additional efforts would seem pleasant, because you would know where they lead.

So dream and run your own marathons - we all can do it. Not every marathon is necessarily yours, feel what you have the energy and motivation for. And if you need navigation, RTT is a great practice that helps to remove fears and organise a journey to where you are heading.

Always supporting you, Armantė