I Could Have Pushed A Little Harder

“Confront the dark parts of yourself, and work to banish them with illumination and forgiveness. Your willingness to wrestle with your demons will cause your angels to sing. Use the pain as fuel, as a reminder of your strength.” – August Wilson

When I’m not ill, I head to the gym in the early morning hours and engage in a workout. It’s the perfect time to catch up on Podcast chatter, keep my body healthy and strong; and begin the day in a positive light.

Recently I attended the gym for the first time in months. I’m taking it slowly, in order to build up strength. The first thing I did was spend time on the stair climber. Around a half hour, climbing enough steps to fulfill a month’s need of stairs.

After finishing my workout I left the gym, popped into the car, and drove off.

Then it hit me.

I could have pushed a little harder. Farther. More.

It sped into my mind like a ton of bricks.

Although I’m taking my time in the gym slowly, in order to not hurt myself, I certainly felt like I could have made my workout a little more intense. The potential was inside and I chose not to let it out.

The stream of thought continued into many other aspects of my life.

I can be a better blogger.
There’s more creative energy within me than I’m currently letting out.
My blog posts need to be scheduled a few weeks in advance, in order to create a more efficient system.
I need to be tighter on my schedule, and plan each day the night before.
More focus needs to be placed on my physical health.
Time must be made for living. (e.g. chatting with friends, laying in the sun, reading)

The thoughts continued, and I took the time to journal them. My goal is to use the epiphany as a point of change. I’m not letting it slip me by.

We go through transitions in life.

We all have incredible strength within and we often make the choice, of not letting it come through.

The conscious choice of how far we’ll push ourselves is played out in our minds and lives each and every day. We choose whether to publish yet another blog post. We make the choice to answer our emails. How many, how long, how much.

Are you pushing yourself hard enough? Do you push yourself too much?

Sunlight photo by gr33ngg