By Alexandra Lawrence
Ask any runner: what is the hardest part of a race? Each will have a different answers for different reasons. Physically, the end is the most difficult because your body is screaming for you to stop and to put it out of its misery. The middle can be tough because you’re starting to get tired, but you still have half the race left. However, I will always stand by the fact that the start will always be the most daunting.
During my high school cross country days, dread filled all of us on the team before the start of races. As the minutes ticked down, nervous bathroom trips became more frequent and way too many drills to warmup started 10 minutes before they should have. Lining up, there are hundreds of girls next to you, ready to sprint as soon as the gun goes off. Everything goes still and time seems to slow down. The massive crowds on either side of the slightly-too-narrow grass course in front of you go dead silent. The official, who was, in my experience, typically an old man with a baseball cap covering his bald head or his few sparse gray hairs, struggles up the short ladder in the middle of the start field. He raises both hands up, a flag in one and a gun in the other. The seconds turned into hours, but at the same time, you hope that it will take longer. Doubts creep into your mind, even as you try to hype yourself up for the race. A loud pop rings out in the morning air and your anxiety disappears. At least, that was my experience.
As soon as I started, that terrible feeling pooling in the pit of my stomach disappeared and was replaced by a flurry of excitement, the adrenaline pushing me faster than I probably should have been running. The first mile was always the fastest for me. I couldn’t stop myself from competing with those around me even though we still had multiple miles left in the race. There were plenty of spectators. I hardly noticed them, having a single-minded tunnel vision in each step I took. I always found that moment, the instantaneous clarity and focus that came after all of the stress, extremely fascinating.
I had a similar experience during my first marathon I ran this past September. The second after I crossed the start line, my stress fell away and I got to focus on enjoying the ride, including the ups and downs of the taxing distance. I will not try to claim that the marathon was easy in the slightest, but it was enjoyable as soon as I started.
I bring up my “glory days” in cross country (glory is a very strong word) to bring up the the point of the stress before an action. Often in life, we let the daunting task of starting stop us from ever doing something we really want to do, or something that we know will put us on a better path than we are currently on. This has let me to my latest of many ideas to live by:
“Action is the antidote to anxiety.“
I have taken this idea, stemming from the mentality I forged in starting the first mile of a race, and applied it to my life now. When you are at the start of a long journey, whether that be one the length of a 5k or a marathon, it is hard to get yourself to start. Your mind tries to talk you out of doing it. It tries to stop you from starting. It comes up with every conceivable excuse to get you to not start something hard. The beginning is the hardest part of any meaningful change.
I have taken this motto to heart in my financial journey. Throughout my life I have started a myriad of side hustles that have never amounted to anything. I get excited by the prospect of the millions, neigh, billions of dollars I would make from each venture. At the first instance of resistance, I would quit. I was scared of putting in the work necessary to do anything impactful. Now, I am 2 months strong into my real estate side hustle. I am completely out of my comfort zone with it and am constantly faced with tasks that are scary. I just filed for an LLC, a step I was nervous of for so long. The moment I do the things I am scared of, I take the power away from that fear.
I challenge you to reflect on your own life and think of a time when you let fear stop you from beginning. Take the mindset of the first mile forward with you. Once you start, excitement will replace the fear. That excitement will not carry you through the entire process. Like in any race, the later miles get tough. You hit physical walls that cause you to have to battle to keep moving. Motivation disappears, especially in the middle. You still have a lot left, but you can’t see the finish line. Allow your initial excitement of starting something big get you going. After that, if you’re feeling like quitting, you’ll have to remember why you began, which is another beast when you’re so far in that you don’t know how you’ll continue. Getting through that point will be a topic for another day; however, I want you to just start working toward that goal you’re afraid of. Work toward that thing you think isn’t possible. Start that business, kick off your couch-to-5k training plan, ask that person out, do something.