Challenging circumstances could gradually erode one’s self-confidence and deplete one’s resilience …
Apart from health benefits, I derived a lot from trail running … it serves as metaphor for many life’s realities:
- Sometimes a muddy decline or large rocks calls for getting down on your bum and shift
- Other times a muddy incline requires crawling on all fours, if without trekking poles; or if a rope or strap is provided, pulling one body upward with your arms
- Inclines and/or declines without traction demands slowing to a careful climb
- Negotiating dark tunnels, without light, requires slow shuffling and feeling ahead as best possible
- Often arm movements along with the opposite leg helps to propel the body up hills, and to maintain pace
- Chantel Nienaber, quoted 27 February 2019, Colin Wilson’s maxim “The mind has exactly the same power as the hands; not merely to grasp the world, but to change it.” adding that she uses her hands to balance when she runs, and uses her mind to balance her life
A while ago I found myself drained from fighting resistance and obstacles; with little faith that circumstances would improve; and zero confidence in justice … similar to a cordless mouse of which the battery has gone flat … appeals from colleagues, together with expressions of confidence, together with pledges of support, rekindled a dying fire … but similar to a rescued campfire, a lot of self-talk had been necessary to endure. Often my self-talk had been derived from my experiences on challenging trails.
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