that next step takes courage

​Endurance running has been a great teacher. The thing it's taught me best is to keep going. When things feel hard, and impossible to overcome, almost always - there is one more step in me.

I'm not sure there's a greater belief to have about myself than 'I do have one more step in me.'

The thing about running, though, is we always know the endpoint. Whether it's a mile to go or ten, we always know how much further we have to go to get to 'I did it.'

Many things in life we're shooting for don't come with the finish line so nicely defined. We don't always get to know how much further we have to go.

Shoot - we don't always get to know if we're even on the right trail or in the right race!

We don't always get to know how close we are to that promotion we've been working for.

We don't always know how close we are to finding that love we've been longing for.

We don't always get to know how close we are to the right person discovering our talent and getting that big break.

Thomas Edison never knew how close he was to inventing the lightbulb. The reality is Edison screwed up a lot of the steps on his way there. But he kept going.

Leonard DeGraaf, author of Edison and the Rise of Innovation, says we don't hear a lot about how often Edison messed up because Edison didn't dwell on it.

“Edison’s not a guy that looks back. Even for his biggest failures he didn’t spend a lot of time wringing his hands and saying ‘Oh my God, we spent a fortune on that.’ He said, ‘we had fun spending it.’”

Edison seemed to always believe in the potential of one more step. And, he wasn't afraid of being wrong about that step.

Alexi Pappas says we always have the choice to be skeptical or optimistic about our next steps.

"It's safe to be skeptical; you're less likely to get hurt. Optimism takes courage. You need courage to invest yourself in something that you hope can be great but might end up hurting you."

It's harder to be optimistic when we don't know where the finish line is. It's harder when we don't know - do I have a mile to go or ten? It takes courage to take that one more step...

But what's the alternative?

Live life believing there is nothing great ahead?

I've been there. I've been down the road that started with skepticism and ended with hopelessness.

My word for this year is 'rocket.' It comes from the song Say I Won't by Mercy Me - and specifically from these lyrics:

Yesterday
I didn't understand
Driving 35 with a rocket inside
Didn't know what I had

While I've been waiting to live
My life's been waiting on me

I think waiting to live is rooted in skepticism. Waiting to live is mired in hopelessness - in believing nothing great is going to be found in that next step.

That rocket - life takes off like a rocket when you start believing there is something beautiful in the life that's been waiting on you.

And even if there's not - it's a lot more fun spending your time believing there is than sitting still feeling sure there's not.

It's Monday, we all get to choose: 35 or a rocket? Give up - or believe success is right around the corner?