“If you’re tired of starting over…stop quitting.”

By now, most of us who troll the web looking for inspirational  tidbits have seen this one. When I first saw it, I probably scoffed at it, thinking, “ha. yea. stop quitting, quitters!”

“hello, my name is Gene, and I’m a quitter.” I wrote about quitting a few years ago when I quit after the third leg of a 4 leg double duathlon that I entered on a whim. It hasn’t been the only time i’ve quit, but is has been the only time i’ve quit in the middle of a race. Lately, though, I have given waaaay too much time to thinking about quitting. Quitting running. Quitting my job (not my profession, just my job). Quitting social media. Quitting trying to be a good example. Quitting….just about everything.

This is not characteristic of me, but perhaps a symptom of something else. I won’t go into the varied reasons for all of it, but please allow me to focus on the aspects that deal with running, wellness, and promotion of healthy living. Thank you.

I spend quite a bit of time online reading blogs, reading stories/articles, interacting with other like-minded (for the most part) people. In my eyes, they are all very successful. Heck, just this past week several of my ‘friends’…no, just friends, either Qualified for Boston, PR’d, WON races, or placed in their age groups. It is FANTASTIC to read these stories, and just imagine the hard work and commitment that it takes to achieve these goals. I find them inspiring, for sure, but I also find them a bit intimidating. I mean, I don’t think that I could realistically achieve any of those things. Sometimes that realization really sends me into a tailspin. I get really down on myself when I think about how there is no way that I’d be the one to write a post about my BQ, a podium finish, or how I managed to cure Cancer while helping eradicate homelessness for our Veterans. I mean, if I can’t do all or any of those things, what’s the point, really? I, too, get trapped in measuring my self up against people who have completely different lives than I do; some are 13 years younger, some have no kids, some work from home. NONE of them are 43 year olds with 3 kids, bunches of chores, my boss, the every, the every. I am ME. I can really only compare my present self to my former self, and make sure that I continue on the path to my preferred future self.

So the only thing that I’m willing to quit right now is to quit comparing myself to others. I can rejoice with others in their triumphs, console with their defeats, and offer an ear when needed. But I will NOT base my self satisfaction on how i stack up to other people any longer.

Done.