We keep thinking that our aim is to create an easier life, an easier world, an easier day for ourselves. Ease, comfort, these are valuable. These must be a part of a life. But can they be the goal, the end state? They cannot.

I have often, and as long as I can remember, described myself as an all-or-nothing person. With love, with sport, with food, with work. I struggle to be halfway in or to find true balance when it comes to my commitments. This all-or-nothing thinking trap seems to be one that many of us buy into when it comes to reflecting at the end of a year, at the end of a big event, at the end of a relationship, at the end of a job. It was a good year, good event, good relationship, good job/company. Or, it wasn’t.

Photo by: Steven Anderson (@sjandersonla)

Sometimes, I have to force myself to fully feel the emotions. I find that it helps me to acknowledge them, to let them breathe, through little verses that bounce around in my brain, often when I’m running, even if those are only 3 miles runs now at 10 minute mile pace…

For those who reached and came up short

why use this practice: to feel more level and patient before and during family time

when to use this practice: in preparation for spending time with anyone who you have a history of feeling triggered by

lesson: identify more than one goal within any significant undertaking and embrace all goals when reflecting after the event

Think of your day job like brushing your teeth.

People have told me, and I have tried to tell myself, that I am young, that I need to be patient, that I have time.

Less than eight weeks from my next marathon, I am two-thirds of the way through a track workout when the thought comes to me that you strengthen the mind through the body.

Recently, I was listening to an Armchair Expert interview with Jason Derulo and he introduced the basketball stat of “most misses.”