Becoming Brave and Gritty

This morning, I posted the following words on Instagram:

Hello! It’s Monday morning here in Australia. I am thinking about the day ahead. Should I start it with a run? The only problem is the temperature. It’s below freezing. Should I be brave and gritty and head out for a run even though I know I’m going to feel cold and uncomfortable? 

At the time of writing, I was sitting in my toasty warm bed drinking a cup of tea. The thought of pulling on my running gear and heading out the door as soon as the sun had risen wasn’t attractive.

I said to myself: I don’t need to run today. I won’t lose all my fitness if I miss one run.

And then I answered myself: But a run would get the week off to a good start.

The conversation continued:

I could run later when the day warms up.

But I probably won’t. I’ll get involved with other things and it will hard to break away and go for a run. I should go now.

I’ll shiver and feel miserable.

I’ll soon warm up once I start moving.

But those first few minutes will be awful.

I could wear lots of layers and start my run from the house. I’ll be running before my body even realises it’s cold outside.

Somehow I found myself pulling on a pair of track pants, thick socks, a long-sleeved t-shirt, and a matching lightweight but warm jacket. I also put on a puffy jacket and a pair of gloves and, of course, my shoes. (No, it wasn’t snowing outside!)

I attached the dog leash to Quinn who had glued herself to my side when she saw that I was getting ready to go running. Then I opened the front door. The cold air hit us. I shivered. Quinn grinned. (She was wearing her oversized Shar Pei velvet coat over her Great Dane body.) And then the dog was off. And so was I. Soon we were weaving in and out of the trees as we ran up and down the hilly bush tracks at the end of our road.

And do you know what? The run was okay. Yes, the cold air turned my cheeks a bit pink and made my nose run. But feeling cold didn’t last long. After a few minutes, the warmth from my moving muscles ran all through my body right down to my fingertips.

As I was running, I thought about how we often talk ourselves out of doing uncomfortable things. We make lots of excuses. But usually, things aren’t as bad as we imagine. Or perhaps we’re stronger than we think. Or maybe we’re not as weak as we pretend to be.

I also wondered: can we turn uncomfortable into comfortable? Just imagine what we could do if nothing ever worried us. But how do we get to the stage where we can say, for example, “I’m the type of person who loves to run in the cold”?

Could we refuse to listen to excuses? Just do the things we don’t want to do. We don’t have to do them all at once. We could start small. Do one thing each day. It’ll become easier with time, I’m sure.

So I’m going to run again tomorrow regardless of the weather. And then I’m going to do other uncomfortable things. Soon I might have a new story to share:

I’m Sue Elvis. Just after sunrise on cold winter’s days, I run with my grinning dog Quinn. As we’re flying through the bush, I laugh at the howling wind that tries to bite us. Nothing can stop me. I’m brave! I’m gritty!

Think of what we could achieve, the places we could go, the joy we might feel, if only we were brave and gritty.

Photo:

I don’t have a photo of me running in the cold, so I’m posting one of me taking photos in the cold, wearing my thick winter coat. My daughter Imogen took it!

So I’m wondering:

Do you ever talk to yourself as you try to make a decision?

Do you live somewhere very cold? If you do, you’re probably wondering why I’m making a fuss about our winter weather!

Are you brave and gritty?

btw, I stole the words ‘brave and gritty’ from my friend Jazzy Jack!