Do you have something in your life that you love but is really difficult? Something that’s hard, takes time, and real effort but you’d truly miss if it were gone? Now I’m not talking about your wife or husband. In my life it’s two things, music and running. I have no talent for either of these things but I can’t leave them alone.
Why did I pursue music when I clearly had no talent for it? I fell in love with it. Love is “blind”, illogical, unreasonable (or perhaps beyond reason). Love makes you do things you wouldn’t normally do. Love caused me to work at it and put in the time. It wasn’t as much about discipline or obsession but love. That’s what happened to me.
I think my running jones story is a little more muddled. When I was 25 years old and depressed our fearless leader Dan suggested that try running. He told me he often felt really good after a run and that any motion is better than no motion at all. My depressed, masochistic self thought what could hurt more than running? So more out of feeling of self punishment than wanting to fix my depression I started run. Even at 25 I could barely run around the block. it was hard, it was painful but I kept at it. After a few months I realized that I was actually enjoying myself. I was running farther and faster and energized by my improvements. I loved the feeling of being outside, traveling somewhere under my own power, and being able to brag about it. Now after almost 40 years I’m still running. I’m not as fast or traveling as far but I’m still doing it.
So I think it’s all about love. Love pushes you to get outside your self imposed box. Love makes you grow no matter how hard it is. Love makes you learn the difficult lessons. Love makes you feel things you wouldn’t feel otherwise. Yes, it’s all about love.
