What I realized is that running, especially marathon style, teaches me to find the right pace for my life. I’m an Aries, and as a fire sign, I believe that running helped tame the fire inside of me so that I don’t burn others. You might take me less seriously for mentioning astrology, especially if you don’t believe there is any hold to it (and I would have agreed with you until some time ago), but it changed when I started digging more into spiritual consciousness and understanding. I now find myself paying more attention and weight to what the intellectual body calls a “pseudo-science”.
See, the universe is governed by Energy – everything around and inside of us is energy. Trees, animals, rocks, planets, us, our cells, the sun… everything in this Universe is energy. With this fact established, astrology looks at the influence of the planets’ energy on Earth and its content, including its inhabitants. As such, the understanding is that people born on a specific day (and time) are subjected to the influence of the energy from the planets affecting Earth at that time. The day and time of birth corresponds to a specific emplacement of the planets and other celestial bodies in the solar system. Each of these planets and celestial bodies have specific attributes that determine their identity, and their emplacement allows them to command their energy’s attributes on planet Earth (thanks to the gravitational pull they exert on each other), and therefore on the persons being born at that time. For example, Mars is a fire planet, and therefore the energy it carries is heavily dictated by attributes associated with the fire element such as determination, strength, courage, force, anger, etc., so we can deduce that someone born when Mars had an influence on Earth (Aries) would exhibit those characteristics, at least according to astrology. Obviously, they wouldn’t display all the characteristics related to Mars, as other celestial bodies’ influence should also be considered, but this is a rough example of how this process is interpreted. Now, I am not an expert, and this is a very simplified way of presenting this information, but I think it explains how it works in a straightforward way. My job here isn’t to convert you to believe in astrology, (while I give some weight to some of it, it is not part of my spiritual belief), but merely showing you how looking at it from a scientific lens might give some hold to this “pseudo-science”.
So, as an Aries and someone who is more on the impulsive and reactive side, running has helped me feel less angry. The same way that people fast, deprive themselves of food, and subject their physical body to pain to be revealed their true selves, it is the same way that I inflict my body the pain of running so that my true self is revealed . This true self is nothing more than the part of me that holds the truth, my truth. With the pain I put myself under, I am better able to understand the pace I need to define for my life so that I can accomplish my goals. I used to be someone who, whenever she did something, wanted to see the results right away, and what running has taught me is that you can get to your goals, but only if you run at the right pace, only if you manage your energy in way that is consistent so that you have enough left to keep going until the end.
Going back to being an Aries sign, we have a fire that burns hot, and such fire doesn’t last a long time because all the energy is used up front and there is nothing left to keep going – the fire isn’t sustaining. As such, it is difficult to accomplish our goals because we don’t have enough gas in the tank since we used it all up. With running, I found that you learn to pace yourself, you have that fire still but because you know how to manage the energy, you have enough to carry you until the very end. Running has revealed this truth to me and taught me what I needed to do. What I need is to tame the fire inside of me so that I can keep going, it is to be consistent in everything I do, including my writing. I am usually someone who uses her burst of energy to write, and as soon as I publish an article, I expect it to go viral in the following hours, but it doesn’t because things don’t work like that. What running has helped me understand is that consistency is a better approach, and in this case, it would look like writing every day or every week, or at least be consistent in my schedule, so that overtime I can reach my goals. And if you’re wondering what my goal is, it is to share my thoughts and experiences with a greater number of people so that my message can inspire, motivate, and bring them peace and a renewed sense of hope. This is particularly relevant for modern society where we’re living more isolated, depressed, and lonelier than ever and I believe things should change for the better. Sharing one’s thoughts and experiences is a sure way to feeling more connected because we may recognize ourselves in others’ experiences.
So, I look at my writing and speaking as my divine mission, which means that I need to keep going, and if only five people were to read me today, it shouldn’t be a deterrent to keep doing my work. My impulsivity however would want it to be my natural reaction, and that’s what I had been doing for a very long time, so that even though I had been writing for sixteen years, it feels like I have only been writing for 3 months. The truth is I kept stopping when the results I was expecting didn’t happen overnight, only for me to pick things back up a couple months after, because I cannot live without writing. To illustrate my previous point, I’m sharing the following example: I created at least three or four blogs in the last ten years, and at the time, I felt like I was speaking in the desert with no one around, so I stopped writing every time and deleted my blogs, only to create another one the following month. Today, I understand that writing is a part of me, and I can never give up on this expression tool.
Now, my approach is to be slow and steady, and running has made that truth even more clear and has shown me that this is the way that I will be able to achieve my goals.
One anecdote to illustrate my point: I went for a run at one of my favorite parks the other day and my goal was to be able to complete one full circuit round. I tried three times to do that in the past with no success. That day, I made a promise to myself that I was going to complete the three-mile circumference of that track. My strategy was different than the times before where I would run fast at first to gain a bit of a distance and try to pace myself later. This time, I managed my energy and paced myself the whole way, and while I wanted to stop at certain moments, I remembered why I was running, so I kept going, keeping the same cadence and rhythm until I reached the end. It was a glorious run, one that has taught me the lessons I mentioned earlier.
I now run for my life.
So, I want to ask you – what is an activity that saved your life, and why? What did you take away from it? I’m curious to hear your experience.
As always, I hope something in this article resonated with you. As for me, it was a pleasure sharing my experience.
Thanks for reading!