Coach Tip Tuesday: Don't Subscribe to Mythology When it Comes to YOU!!

JUNE!! It’s already JUNE!! And it’s already time for another Coach Tip Tuesday!!

I want to share something I hear ALL THE FREAKING TIME, my friends.  And I KNOW that there are many of you out there who say this to yourselves ALL THE FREAKING TIME:

"I don't consider myself a XXXXXX."  

“XXXXXX” could be anything - "distance runner," "athlete," "triathlete," "real XXX," etc. 

Why the heck are you telling yourself this??  Would you tell someone else that??  Say you saw someone out for a run.  Would you look them square in the eyes and say, “You’re not a REAL runner”??

HECK NO, you wouldn’t!!  So then, please tell me WHY you tell YOURSELF this in a similar situation.  Did you go out for a run??  Then you are a runner.  If you do something athletic, you are an athlete.  If you run longer distances, you are a distance runner.  If you run faster than your average, that is speed work.  If you swim, bike, and then run in the same event, then you are a triathlete.  Call it like it is, friends!!  Stop subscribing to this mythology that you are less than you actually are.   

If you want to be something, the first step to becoming that something is affirming that you ARE worthy of what you want to become.  So, in order to become a runner, you need to be willing to tell yourself that you are a runner.  Mindset matters.

Maybe you’re not as fast as someone else.  [Spoiler: For about 7.5 billion of us on this planet, there is someone faster than us.  Only ONE person gets to occupy that top spot.  So stop using that as an excuse to explain why you are less than you truly are.]  Maybe you don’t run as much as someone else.  Maybe someone else has been doing athletic things longer than you.

I have one thing to say about that: Who cares.  Seriously.  Stay in your lane.  Don’t worry about what other people are doing and compare yourselves to them.

Where you are RIGHT NOW matters.  Who you are matters.  What you do MATTERS.  Don’t diminish yourself or your accomplishments.  It’s not very fair of you to do that to you, and therefore, it’s not very nice of you to do that to you.

Bottom line: If you wouldn’t dream of saying XXXXXX to another human, then you sure as heck shouldn’t dream of saying XXXXXX to you.  If you work on ONE THING this week in your training/endurance/athletic life, let it be this:

Be honest with yourself, and be proud of yourself.  In other words: show yourself some love this week.  You are worth it. :D