I was talking to someone close to me tonight, and they were both blasé about the race I'm training for, and even questioned why I'm doing it if my last attempt was a failure. That attempt was 22 years ago when I was an extremely overweight kid and today I am in great physical condition and I run every night.
My point in this post isn't to react to that person or to defend my choice to do the race. My point is to advise you to be clear in your conviction to succeed in reaching your goals no matter what others might or might not say or do in support of you. And it isn't about revenge or proving them wrong. It's about their view being irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. Your body. Your mind. Your goal. Your life. Not theirs. Ok?
My wife shared another view on this idea which I think is really good. These sorts of people also have a way of seeing you at some point in time - like when you were a certain age or maturity - and have trouble seeing you as something different today. We all know what she means - for me, it's how I see people from high school who are amazed at how much weight I've lost since school because they forget that I was in great shape senior year and weigh about the same today as I did when they last saw me. Or it's how siblings stay in the same roles relative to each other, and keep fighting in the same way over the same sorts of things despite lots of personal growth, education, life changes, etc. Some people who we have known an especially long time - especially those who have seen us when we were not what we are now or what we're now trying to be - are more likely to question what we're doing, whether we can or should do it, etc. The advice I would give in these cases is the same. Their view - whether grounded in the now or in earlier times - is irrelevant to you and your goals.
Be strong. Be committed. Be positive. Be successful. Be happy. Live in that order regardless of outside forces, and it will be an inevitability.
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