Mental Toughness

There are a lot of things that have an impact on your day—people, your job, the food that you eat, exercise that you do. So many seconds in a day to make an impact.

Lately, I have been testing my mental strength and pushing my body to do something that I do not typically do—run distance. I sprinted in middle and high school and always told myself I would never do distance. My brother definitely changed my mindset. He talked to me about the toughness that comes from pushing your brain and body while running.

If you knew me in August and September when I started, you would have guessed I was just increasing my mile time for 1 or 2 miles. Joke is on that Jess—now we are doing 5-7 miles and preparing for a half marathon.

A coworker/friend had asked me to run the Milwaukee Turkey Trot with them. I ended up running the 8k, which I would have never imagined myself doing.

Every time that I get out there to run, I am stronger, not only physically but mentally.

Running is truly pushing yourself to just keep going. This year has brought the most change that I have experienced in a long time. I am back to doing things that I love and finding out new things that I would have never guessed I would have wanted to do.

Newton's First Law (Inertia): An object at rest stays at rest, and an object in motion stays in motion with the same speed and in the same direction, unless acted upon by an unbalanced external force.

This fully encapsulates what running is.

If you are not moving your body, then you won't move. Rest is great to have, and it will impact your body in positive ways as well. You need rest in order to be an object in motion. It is all about balance.

When you are an object in motion, you will keep going! Your brain and body will just keep going until your brain tells you to stop. You are the unbalanced external force in control of when you stop. Your mental game is the one trying to stop you.

Sometimes on mile 4, you will see me just talking to myself because I hit a mental wall. I am telling myself affirmations about how resilient, strong, and how I am good enough. My body is taking its time to listen to me and keep pushing! I also like to look down at my hands and feet to remind my mind that it is me and my body in this.

No time, no pace, just my mind and body working together to propel myself forward.

It took a long time for me and my body and me and my mind to be friends. At the end of the day, like all friendships, we have hard days or days that we are not focused on each other, but it doesn't mean that we don't care about each other.

Continue to push yourself, enjoy the hard moments. Twenty minutes a day of moving your body will make that rest feel so much better, will build a better relationship with your body, and at the end of the day, your mind will thank you for doing something that challenges it.

Find a friend or give yourself a treat as a reward! You are worth it!

You are strong, you are resilient, you can do hard things, your body is a beautiful organism, and you would not be the same person as you are today without it. Be true to yourself.