Fit Lit Chat: Keep the Connection

I have hit a rough patch in my training. It seems that I have developed terrible shin splints, which is not something that I have really ever had to deal with before. I've tried rest, ice, stretching, icy hot, and I just can't seem to shake them. This is normally the point where I'd give up on my goals that I set after achieving some success with my 10k. As some of you may have gathered, I tend to use books and articles to keep me motivated and informed. I did a Fit Lit Chat about a couple books that I used to keep me engaged in becoming more physically active over the winter. I have just started reading, Keep the Connection by Bob Greene. I never read Make the Connection, his first book, but I have already been struck by a point in this book, and I'm still on the first chapter.

"All too often, people attempt change without really knowing who they are, what they want or why they really want it." -Keep the Connection by Bob Greene

This concept has been plaguing me lately. I really want to invest in my personal health on the physical and emotional level. I made a slight career shift in order to reduce the stress in my life, which was also one of the reasons I took up running and yoga. Another reason I took up running, was to prove that I could do whatever I put my mind to, even if there were people who didn't believe I could do it. Maybe I could even say especially because people didn't think I could do it. Even with my successes and failures along the path to physical and emotional health along with my career shift, I still  find myself contemplating who I want to be and what I want to do. I always thought those questions had more to do with my professional life than my personal life and quest to better health. I see now how intertwined they are.


I recently saw this picture, and It is sort of how I feel when I run. When I am running, I do a lot of thinking about who I am, and I also feel like I can be anyone. I feel like I am still defining who I am. Even though I have committed myself to running, I know that there are still so many people in my life who view me as lazy or weak. I absolutely hate that am I thought of in that way. There are two other things that I know. 1) I am the only one who can choose whether or not I live the life of an active and strong person, and I mean strong both figuratively and literally. 2) I don't have to define myself by other people's opinions of me.

There is one more revelation that I'd like to share. I get to choose who I want to be. I get to choose if I am going to live an active, healthy, strong lifestyle, but the catch is that I have to choose and not just once. I have to make the choice to be active on a regular basis. I have to make the choice to let go of other people's ideas of who I am or who I should be. I have to make the choice to put my health before my immediate satisfaction sometimes in order to gain long-term satisfaction. I have to make lots of choices, and I have to make them every day. I have made bad choices in the past, and I will still make bad choices at times in the future, but the beauty is that when I make a bad choice, I can also choose to let it go and start moving forward again. I don't need to beat myself up, and I most definitely don't have to let other people beat me up. I will just remind myself of who I am and who I want to be. It is time for me to decide what I want, and why I really want it in order to attempt at some real changes.