Running

Run!

Garth Beyer

I saw a brilliant sign at a race that read: “Run like someone just called you a jogger.”

At first glance, it was a silly motivational poster.

At second glance, the real truth of it all set in.

  • Work like someone just called you lazy.
  • Swim like someone just called you slow.
  • Paint like someone just called you a starving artist.
  • Write like someone just called you fake.
  • Run like someone just called you a jogger.

When you run, you don’t think. The sign was a reminder that you can use frustration as energy, but it was a better reminder that you forget about frustrations when you run. You don’t acknowledge your fear, you don’t worry, you forget the ankle pain, you forget about criticism, you forget about the time.

When you run, that’s all that you do, you run.

I’m writing a novel right now and the only way I can get through it each day is to sprint through it. If I don’t, then fear eats at my motivation as if it hadn’t eaten anything in months.

If you haven’t sprinted before, go run and give it a try.

 

Stay Positive & Do What You Love Like Someone Just Said You Couldn’t

Garth E. Beyer

How To Grow A Tribe (Not Numbers, Quality)

Garth Beyer

It’s 6 degrees out and I decided to go for a run. While out, running through town, I saw a cluster of black, red, and white colors moving up Bascom Hill. Heading that way myself, I came to find that it was UW Madison’s Women’s Rowing Crew.

When I go out running, I always hit Bascom Hill once. This time, I found myself trekking up it 3.5 times with the crew. After 3 times some of the crew were stopped while others were finishing up. As I was running past those standing, I shouted, “You guys [should have said ladies] are kicking my butt!”

After that, a few girls hollered and a stampede started. They all started running with me and with all the other girls who were finishing up. The pride these girls had, the encouragement they handed each other, and the determination each had to finish as a team was insurmountable.

That alone is a less than good tribe.

They didn’t stop there though. What makes a good tribe is being open to the influence of others, connecting with like-minded individuals (me) or tribes. Even more so, what makes a great tribe is placing yourselves where you can have a challenges from inside and outside the tribe.

Building a tribe isn’t about unity, about definitive togetherness, or about exclusion. The best way to grow a tribe from within, is to grow from out, from the surroundings, from all the people around you. You’ll never know what challenges you’ll get … or give.

 

Stay Positive & Inclusion Isn’t Vital, But Awareness Is

Garth E. Beyer