Every year I try to choose a new skill or choose a new challenge to conquer. Mostly they are just random things that I’ve either always wanted to try, or have never been very good at. Last year, I taught myself how to embroider. This year, I decided to try out competitive running. Anyone who knows me will attest to how competitive I am; a sore winner, some would say. But I have never been good at running. I tried all through middle, junior high and high school to get into running and I just could not do it. So what has changed between then and now? I’m older, I have a little bit better of an idea of how hard I can push myself (still working on testing that limit), but most of all I think it’s that I feel like I have something to prove. I am a wife, I am a mom, I am busy.
I do this for ME. To prove to myself that my body can do something at 31 years old after having 2 babies, that my 16 year old body couldn’t do. And I think that’s pretty powerful.
Did I win the race? No, but I placed 3rd in my division. My very first race and I placed, I’ll take that. And the great thing is, I know that I can run a faster race. I went into this one with a terrible cold and the course was mostly uphill. I can do better, I will do better. Because that’s what life is about, always trying to do better than you have previously. Not to be like someone else, but to be the best version of YOU and to always challenge yourself to be better.
So my challenge to you is to try something new. You never know what you might learn about yourself.