Hello my friend,
In running, there is a phenomenon called the “second wind.”
When you are at the wall. When you feel completely empty and think you are entirely done.
But if you can just hold on, something happens.
A surge of energy arrives from seemingly nowhere.
The second wind.
The challenge is you never know when it will show up.
But, it always does. If we don’t quit.
It makes us feel unstoppable.
Life is much the same.
Uncertainty is deeply uncomfortable, even for the highest achievers and performers.
But the difference is they see it differently. They learn to dance in it.
They know the suffering and the discomfort of the unknown will pass.
Clarity will appear.
They have been there time and time again.
They realise that the other side can be magnificent.
But most people won’t experience this because they simply don’t wait long enough. The discomfort is too heavy in the moment. The release of quitting too tempting.
The towel is waiting eagerly to be thrown.
No-one would say a thing. It feels the obvious option. An easy way out.
Keeping going when things are uncertain isn’t easy. But it isn’t supposed to be.
But as humans, we evolved to strive and to push ourselves. We were made to handle the unknown.
Quitting early comes with a heavy price: never knowing what we were truly capable of.
Living with that quiet, niggling feeling of “what if I had just held on a little longer?”
The fact that something is hard is so for a reason. That is how it is supposed to be.
No growth ever came from the comfort zone.
The most challenging moments in our lives don’t last.
The second wind always comes.
But we must hold on.
We must keep moving.
We must build and maintain momentum.
Then that second wind will appear. It always happens.
There is no greater feeling than knowing we didn’t give up on ourselves.
I try to remind myself of this during uncertain or uncomfortable seasons of my life.
You are running your own race.
The pace doesn’t matter.
Not giving up does.
Love, Nick