The Finish Line.

I'd like to step up on a pedestal for just one moment and have a good think about the point.  What is the point of the race?  The race to win.  The race to compete at all.  The race to be healthy, look your best, or do something you've never done before. What is the point?

I feel that in thinking about this you must do as you would with anything else: begin with the end in mind.

When you get to your goal - whatever it is - when you finish it - when you complete the journey - what is the feeling that you feel?  What is the moment like?  Can you say that the work was worth it?  Can you say that you travelled honorably?  That you were made a better person by the trail?  Or that you improved the lives of those around you by taking up the task?

The finish line to me feels like this: you cross, you smile, and you immediately think about what is next.  Whether it's brunch, or a little bit of crying with a friend, or a blog post, or simply, a series of thank you's - after the finish line, life is still waiting. Normalcy is still there.  A new challenge still waits.  The allure of the race is still alive.

What comes with the win: a new job, new friend, new lover, new money, new-found fame or anything else is sooner or later inconsequential apart from how you begin to feel it defines you.  The truth is whether you have money or don't or whether you have a gold medal or not - you are still you.

The perpetual challenge is to remember that the race gets us all to the same place - a time when we will look back and consider how we've spent our time.

These are honest thoughts, but honesty like truth is, as many of you know, a powerful and life-changing thing.  Honest thoughts lead to overhauls.  To me, honest thoughts have always lead to the right, though difficult decision.

I would like to say that all this honesty boils down to one (rather kitschy but nonetheless true) conclusion: we must all run the race in good company - often, in the company of people we don't get to choose.  If we can improve the circumstances, if we can lift someone up when things get difficult, if we can do better than we are and learn from trying, we should do that.

Why?

Because that is what we will REALLY be thinking when we cross the finish line.  We will remember every moment we didn't think we could handle one more step, every day that we committed to trying after failing, and every person that came alongside us along the road. All achievements in the world are more memorable for the earning of them.

“Do the things that interest you and do them with all your heart. Don't be concerned about whether people are watching you or criticizing you. The chances are that they aren't paying any attention to you. It's your attention to yourself that is so stultifying. But you have to disregard yourself as completely as possible. If you fail the first time then you'll just have to try harder the second time. After all, there's no real reason why you should fail. Just stop thinking about yourself.” -Eleanor Roosevelt