Writing doesn't always come easily. It mostly does, actually, but not always. Like today, for instance, I'm tired. I had a busy weekend and, for whatever reason, was up very late last night--unusually late for me. My 3rd Day of Christmas post was not in the hopper, and the partially written pieces I had just weren't getting any traction. I was beginning to panic as it's nearing 10pm, especially since these are up and ready to go much earlier in the day, typically. Maybe it's just not going to happen today? I walked away from my desk to stretch and get a snack, thinking of options like, Maybe on the 3rd and 4th Days of Christmas the lesson from running is so big it takes up two days, and so I put it all in the 4th day????...
But then, I'm standing in my kitchen, making my tea, and who is in my head but my coach, and I'm remembering a conversation we had just last week. I have been struggling with my headspace around running, and have really been working to get a handle on it--to actually try and dig up what the heck is going on and how do I root it out and harness all this drive I have for running, so that I am actually running while I am out running. The Saturday prior to our conversation, I bailed on my workout after my warm up. I just didn't feel like I had it in me. Was I actually tired? Or was I making an excuse? Either way, he checked in that evening about the workout, I explained what happened, and I said I would get it done the next day. Sunday, my rest day. And then I didn't do it. And he, rightfully so, had an issue with that. And here was the issue: it wasn't so much that I bailed after the warmup, it's that I said "I'll get it done tomorrow", and I didn't. I said I would do something, and I didn't do it.
Fast forward back to my kitchen tonight, tea kettle whistling, and my 3rd Day of Christmas running lesson is staring me right in the face: Do What You Say You're Going To Do. Or don't say it. You build a little bit of badass every time you announce you are going to do something and you deliver on that promise. You believe in yourself. You can sleep at night. And is there anything better than being a person of your word? Knowing that others know they can count on you?
I would say, all in all, that I'm a pretty reliable gal. Running, early on, taught me what it means to keep my word. But as I kept running, I kept learning this lesson in more and more refined versions, and will continue to until I master the skill. I like to think that I am in the masters class, now, of No Excuses--perhaps moving on to my Ph.D.? What I do know is that I will keep the promise to my coach to deliver on what I say I'm going to do, for him and for myself.
It's 10:44pm, and I am about to post On the 3rd Day of Christmas, What Running Gave to Me, because I said I would. Maybe not my most well crafted piece of writing, but I'm definitely learning in real time.
And, I'm being true to my word.