I remember a while back when I was attempting to run from Virginia Beach to Phoenix I wrote an article for a magazine called Endurance Athlete.  They felt that I qualified as a contributor.  They were expecting a tale about what it's like to attempt to run 18 miles a day for 130 days - I was on a tight schedule and had to be in Phoenix for the PF Chang's Rock and Roll Marathon by a certain day.  Suffice to say, I never made it to Phoenix.  And I didn't write about endurance.

By the time I reached Birmingham Al, I knew I wasn't going to make it to Phoenix.  Hell, there was no way I was going to make it across Texas.  It's a flipping nightmare driving from one side of the state to another let alone attempt to run it!  And I'd already written the article.  And here's a version of what I wrote.

I just sat outside in my screened in porch with my 2 week old son in my hand and didn't move for 22 minutes.  I didn't itch, scratch or adjust my position except for when Quinlan squirmed a little in his sleep.  I did this for a reason.  We humans have a habit of believing ourselves when we utter....'the reality is', or 'the truth is'.....and you can fill in the blanks.  As I sat there thoughts careened around my cranium that if I were to allow them would place me in a position of belief.  And that's just not possible.  I know better than to think that what I think to be a future truth is nothing more than a story that I'm making up in my head.  And thankfully can, should I choose, rewrite.

Don't get me wrong.  We quite often think thoughts that come to fruition.  But if you look deeper into who we are as human beings a great part of our life is spent dwelling on thoughts of future occurences that never actually happen.  In my mind I've written a story about my day tomorrow.  Keri and Michelle at 8.  Followed by Ann Marie....etc. etc.  And I, of all people, should be fully aware of the fact that I've never had a week where everyone who said they were coming in to train actually showed up.  Yet I'm going to stick to the fact that I've got clients all morning.  If they all show up what does that mean?  Good question.  It means nothing more than the story line of my story that I've created in my head actually happened.  And what can I learn from that?

Stories that we create for ourselves should never have the power we allow them.  I sat and didn't move an inch for 22 minutes in contradiction to the story in my head that said there's no way I can sustain not itching or scratching.  I had a story in my head that said I couldn't.  And I decided to change the story to one that said I could.  And I did.  And as simplistic as that sounds, that's life in a nutshell. 

 And I hear my little boy getting ready to wail for his supper so I'll sign off by saying that life is just a story.  And if you don't like the one you currently have, change it.