Don't feed the feeling

I heard the question when you thought it, and today, I'm gonna answer it

Hey, Runners!

Today I’m going to answer the question that popped into your head last time when I told you to be kind to yourself.

And here it is:

So I should never push myself to do the work? If I don’t feel like it, I just don’t do it?

Yes. And no.

You need to train a bit here, until you know the difference between pushing yourself to do a little more, and berating yourself to give something you don’t have.

It’s a subtle difference, but massively important, and it’s all about your self-talk.

I’ll use an example from my own life; running.

I usually walk, but sometimes I do running intervals because I like intervals. But when I’m kicking up to a new, more demanding set of intervals, there are always times during that kicked-up run when I feel tired before the voice in my ears tells me I can walk again.

It used to be that I just ran it anyway, and if I felt shitty at the end of that interval, well I deserved to feel shitty at the end of the interval, because I haven’t been doing the work, I haven’t been consistently working out or getting in shape, and if I have a heart attack there on the running trail, traumatizing myself and everyone around me, well I deserve it.

That wasn’t what I actually said in my head; I didn’t need to. I had done this to myself to the point where the response was so automatic, the voice didn’t even need to say anything anymore. There was just this automatic feeling of shame mixed with self-hatred and just a sprinkling of anger at the part of myself that was being so abusive to me.

That feeling? That’s what you’re looking for.

There are days when I need to write and I don’t feel like it and I do it anyway and it’s great and I’m glad it I did it. As long as I don’t have that feeling, I’m fine to push myself.

But the second that feeling hits—which is less often now, but still happens on occasion—I don’t push. I don’t reward myself for making myself feel this way.

Today’s Comments Assignment:

What’s your favorite thing to cook? Note: DoorDash is an absolute valid answer.

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Today, I ran. When I started to get tired before the end of my running interval, I did an internal check. No bad feeling. So I kept running.

That’s the difference.

My darling Runner, if you learn nothing else from me, please learn this.

If you don’t participate in rotWIPs this year, if you never engage with my content ever again, please just take this one thing with you as my thank you gift for giving me your time.

Don’t feed the feeling, and watch as your entire life changes in every area.