Enjoying the journey...

Something I have come to recognise more and more, is, I am someone who always looks ahead. I am a planner, an organiser, and I try to be a predictor, but no one can truly predict what is going to happen. Whilst sometimes it may help to think ahead, a lot of the time, it doesn’t. It only acts as another form of stress and anxiety. This is because I am always thinking ahead to what things may be like in an hour, a day, a month, or a year. Consequently, I spend a lot of the time thinking about the future, rather than being present in the moment and enjoying where I am at now. This is something I have been working on, because who really wants to be thinking about what’s going to happen next, rather than what is happening now. In all honesty, one of the only times I am COMPLETELY IN THE MOMENT, is when I am completing a tough session, because truly, there is nowhere else I can be, or want to be. Whilst beforehand, I may be thinking ahead, during, I’m very much present, and after, I feel so much happier in myself and do feel more present. 
 
Be grateful for what I can do each day. 
If lockdown has taught me one positive thing, it is the importance of enjoying every day for what it is. It has taught me to reflect on what I do within each day that I am grateful for. Having had a period of 6 months where I didn’t do a single run, followed by several months of running/walking, due to injury a couple of years ago, I am so grateful for all the training I can do now.  Especially over lockdown, training truly is the main thing that keeps me positive and accountable every day. 

​Process before outcome. 
It is very easy to get dragged into thinking about the outcome over the process and to place extra emphasis on the importance of the ‘end goal’. However, when you think about the grand scheme of things, we spend far more time in the process phase then we do in the outcome phase. As a result, if we spend all that time thinking about the end goal, we forget to enjoy each day of training, and thus, risk having wasted time. No one can get anywhere without undergoing the process of it. Outcome just doesn’t exist without process; therefore, the process is just as much something to enjoy as the outcome is. Thus, we should learn to enjoy the journey as a whole, no matter what stage of it we are at. 
 
Find happiness in the little things. 
Seeing as we can’t plan big things to look forward to and there are no races to focus on, it has confirmed the importance of finding happiness in the everyday. For me, this is predominantly training, writing and reading. Whilst I was initially frustrated at the lack of racing on the horizon, I have very quickly come to be happy with the training I am doing. I do get excited by being able to tick week after week off. It may sound sad to non-runners, but this is very satisfying. As important as training is, recovery is too, therefore, sitting down and reading a book or writing (working), acts as a source of happiness to me. The everyday makes me happy. 
 
Enjoy the journey. 
Something I don’t want to do, is look back on my life in 10 years+ time, and say I wish I enjoyed the journey more. Whilst getting to the end goal will be great, it is the journey itself that is the most important part of progressing. We spend the majority of our time on our journey, and only a small amount of time at the destination, so we should try to enjoy that moving stage as much as possible. This is something I am trying to do.