This past weekend I ran a marathon. Most people would say that is a pretty amazing accomplishment. And it is–it really is! I know I should be proud of myself, but it wasn’t my day and I ran it slower than I have in the past—I just never got into a groove
Still smiling!
and the whole time, I was miserable. I wasn’t enjoying the race. I’m sure there’s a part of me that is proud, that recognizes that it’s not about beating a time, it’s not about a pace per minute or where I compare to others—it is that I ran the race! It’s that I finished the race. When I could’ve given up, I didn’t…even though at times it didn’t seem possible to take another step.
A couple days after the race, someone asked me where I placed. Considering the fact that there were tens of thousand of runners, and by no means am I an elite, it seemed a silly question…until I realized that I’d really been allowing my performance as it compared to others to matter more than my overall accomplishment. And I had let it take away from my achievement.
I finished!!!
How many other things in our life fall victim to this same treatment? How often do we allow our personal accomplishments to be downplayed because when compared to others, it doesn’t seem so impressive? How often do we let the devil of comparison steal our joy?
I do not want to take away from the fact that it’s important to set goals and to have expectation for ourselves, but not at the expense of recognizing that we have still accomplished some pretty amazing things. But letting ourselves feel like we have failed rather turning around to look how far we’ve come (in some cases, 26.2 miles) does not serve us well…in any part of our lives.
Our diet can feel a lot like this. Maybe we’ve made many positive changes, removed processed foods, switched to organic, fit more veggies in our diet…whatever it may be, sometimes it doesn’t seem like enough. Making improvements in our diet is a journey. It’s a tough journey, much like a race. And it’s our own journey–One that we have to take on our own. We may have to dodge others, get over our own mental barriers, get past that defeated feeling when someone passes us and finally, stop focusing on how far we have to go rather than how far we’ve come. We have to recognize that any race is just made up lots of individual steps. We have a choice after each step on whether we are going to take the next one. It’s the combination of those steps, taken in a generally forward direction that gets us to the finish line. We may take some side steps, whether it be a potty break or a sprint to the sidelines to hug a loved one, but generally, if we keep that forward motion, we will get closer to reaching that moment of knowing that we did it! 
So if you’re feeling like you’re taking more stretch breaks or you’re stopping too often to ever make any progress, look behind you! Maybe you did eat something today that detracted from your journey, but get back on the course because any step forward is a win. And don’t expect you’ll ever finish and retire—life is a journey and the moment we stop lacing up our sneakers and shuffling forward is when the self-discovery ends. For myself, I’m signing up for another race!
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