Ladies and Gentlemen, Start Your Engines...
"As of right now, I feel like I'm running a never ending race. It just doesn't seem like there's an end, just a deadline and then another."
In terms of starting lines and finish lines, life has one of each inherent in living. So the question then becomes, as the overall race is expected to be somewhere in the vicinity of 75 years, where are the races inside the race, if they exist? Or is it the type of race where, once you see the finish line and sprint to it, you realize it's not actually the finish line and the real one is further still? Naturally, the obvious (and essentially fool-proof) answer is that it's all about personal perception. So, basically, if you see each goal as having a finish line and a sense of accomplishment, or whether it's all just another step in the marathon that you are destined to fall down and die at the end of?
I'll go ahead and put in a bit of a side note that a lot of what I talk about in here will be highly metaphorical, so I'll probably end up using some terminology that only makes sense in the realm of actual running, so if something I say strikes you as very odd, feel free to ask me sometime... Or just make up your own meaning. Really, I think that this will be one long rambled thought. Just like that last sentence, and this little addition.
How does the race to life go? Since, supposedly, no two people ever follow the exact same paths, but sometimes share it, I guess it could be argued that the shared paths constitute as races. But, more importantly, I think, are what appears to the person as the race. Maybe the path to a goal, or a deadline? Or could it be that all of these are just checkpoints on one giant path? And then, is it really a race if you ultimately go different ways with anyone you're running with?
As I've been writing this, I've been progressively tearing apart each argument that I come up with, trying to decide where I want to bring this whole entry. And, as I'm writing it, and also discussing the values of life and how we interact with others, I've been realizing just how endless the race we're running is. And, sure, there's ways to check to see your progress by tracking how much ground you've covered, see if you're moving forward, and so on, but none of that is really important.
What matters is whether you've hit the wall, or if you're on your runner's high.
As an interlude, before a surprisingly quick and sudden conclusion, here's just a little thing: I've got another motivational paperweight on my desk, this one saying, "what would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?" It's an odd question - how far would you go without the fear of failure? How far would the world go without the fear of failure? There comes a time where you have to just have fun and throw your entire self into something if you truly want to break out and tear ahead.
So start your engines, but be prepared to go for a long time. It might seem endless, but if you've got the right mindset for the run, you can really go forever. So here goes.
Have fun.
In terms of starting lines and finish lines, life has one of each inherent in living. So the question then becomes, as the overall race is expected to be somewhere in the vicinity of 75 years, where are the races inside the race, if they exist? Or is it the type of race where, once you see the finish line and sprint to it, you realize it's not actually the finish line and the real one is further still? Naturally, the obvious (and essentially fool-proof) answer is that it's all about personal perception. So, basically, if you see each goal as having a finish line and a sense of accomplishment, or whether it's all just another step in the marathon that you are destined to fall down and die at the end of?
I'll go ahead and put in a bit of a side note that a lot of what I talk about in here will be highly metaphorical, so I'll probably end up using some terminology that only makes sense in the realm of actual running, so if something I say strikes you as very odd, feel free to ask me sometime... Or just make up your own meaning. Really, I think that this will be one long rambled thought. Just like that last sentence, and this little addition.
How does the race to life go? Since, supposedly, no two people ever follow the exact same paths, but sometimes share it, I guess it could be argued that the shared paths constitute as races. But, more importantly, I think, are what appears to the person as the race. Maybe the path to a goal, or a deadline? Or could it be that all of these are just checkpoints on one giant path? And then, is it really a race if you ultimately go different ways with anyone you're running with?
As I've been writing this, I've been progressively tearing apart each argument that I come up with, trying to decide where I want to bring this whole entry. And, as I'm writing it, and also discussing the values of life and how we interact with others, I've been realizing just how endless the race we're running is. And, sure, there's ways to check to see your progress by tracking how much ground you've covered, see if you're moving forward, and so on, but none of that is really important.
What matters is whether you've hit the wall, or if you're on your runner's high.
As an interlude, before a surprisingly quick and sudden conclusion, here's just a little thing: I've got another motivational paperweight on my desk, this one saying, "what would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?" It's an odd question - how far would you go without the fear of failure? How far would the world go without the fear of failure? There comes a time where you have to just have fun and throw your entire self into something if you truly want to break out and tear ahead.
So start your engines, but be prepared to go for a long time. It might seem endless, but if you've got the right mindset for the run, you can really go forever. So here goes.
Have fun.