How My Aim To Increase Physical Endurance Helped Me Achieve Mental Stability

As far as I could remember, I had always been a very sick child. I can’t remember a single school year when I did not contract an illness. There was always something wrong with me. As time went by, my physical limitations became increasingly apparent. They held me back from enjoying a “normal” life. Not that it mattered to me. I was an introvert child who avoided all social situations like the plague. So not having a social life suited me just fine. My weaknesses gave me an excuse to bail out of social gatherings and parties quite easily. It never occurred to me that by doing this I was missing out on life itself. All this changed when I took up running.

When I Started Running

My association with running began in college. It so happened that the bachelor’s programme offered by my college gave extra credits for practising a sport. These credits were a sure shot way to pull up the students’ final scores, so no one wanted to lose out on them. Even though I was hardly the sports type, I couldn’t resist the appeal of those extra credits. Now the question was which sport should I take up. Since I was an awkward, gangly teenager with no previous experience of playing a team sport, most of the choices were already out of question. However, I got to know that track events were also categorised as sports under the choices offered. I was super happy to see this. This meant all I had to do was run a couple of laps every Friday during the sports class and I would be off the hook. What I did not know then was that, apart from that, one of the requirements for getting that credit was to participate in a marathon. I came to know this when I had already signed up for it. It was too late for me to back out by then.

I remained unaffected by this new piece of information. “After all, how hard can it be?,” I thought to myself. Turns out, it was quite hard. My first sports class turned out to be a disaster. I had barely run 200 meters when I realised I had pulled a stitch. It was then I realized how much I needed to work on my physical endurance if I wanted to participate in the marathon.

Charting A New Course

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Determined to participate and complete the marathon, I decided to completely overhaul my lifestyle and began to train for it in the earnest. Everything in my life started revolving around this training. I was determined to achieve this and prove to myself that it was I, who controlled my body, and not the other way round. During the training, I realized that all my life I had allowed my instincts to run me. I had allowed them to easily rattle me. I always found it easy to give up because I never invested myself in anything. I had allowed my mind to be clouded by doubts and never really exercised any control over it. Now, that I was so invested in participating and competing in this marathon, its training became a sort of deep meditation for me. It allowed me to have more honest conversations with myself.

It Helped Heal My Body And Control My Mind

Every morning I dragged myself out of bed for my practice run, come hell or high water. Everything I did, I did while keeping my training in my mind. I ate when I needed the energy not when I felt bad or emotional. I was disciplined and diligent. For the first time in my life, I had complete control of my body and a great reserve of willpower to draw from. I had a purpose, a goal, that I wanted to achieve at any cost. I was no longer content with just getting by. Running became an act of self-love, I felt exhilarated on the track.

It wasn’t as if these effects were limited to my time on the track field. They affected other areas of my life as well. Suddenly I found myself leading a more structured life. I remember to this day, how satisfying it was for me to complete that marathon. More than anything, I remember feeling immensely proud of being the owner of a powerful machine – my body.

I still run. I still push myself to achieve impossible feats. But mind you, I do so not because of vanity, but because it allows me to identify, and create new ways, and techniques of harnessing my mental energy. Each step that I take in my fitness journey helps me on the path of mental stability, the coveted zen. So today I run for my body but I also run for my brain.

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