Attempt the Scary.

Courage is not the absence of fear; it is feeling the fear and doing it anyway. Whenever you try to do something beyond your reach, it will be scary and require a bit of bravery to pull it off. Scary is subjective, as what is scary for me right now may be a walk in the park for you. Growth is on the other side of your fear. Being scared indicates that you are human and that red blood cells run through your veins. Putting yourself out there, leaving your comfort zone, setting a challenge for yourself, attempting the somewhat impossible, trying to break personal records, and stretching oneself can be scary. As ancient Rome stoic philosopher Lucius Annaeus Seneca once quipped, “It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare, it is because we do not dare that they are difficult.'”

The more you achieve stretching goals, the more you become self-confident in your abilities and vision. Attempting the scary is a philosophy I try to live by every day. 2023 was a year of breaking personal records, especially in the fitness realm. At the beginning of 2023, I set a goal to run a full marathon in each of the ten Canadian Provinces. And in May, I ran four back-to-back-to-back-to-back full marathons in a month. It was one of the most scary adventures I have ever taken and attempted. I knew it would be tough to pull it through, but it even became more scary as most people I told about my goal of running four marathons in a month thought I was nuts.

I eventually ran four full marathons and one half-marathon between April 30 and May 28, 2023. I took everything in me to finish the last marathon for May, as I ran 190.7 KM in those five weeks. I had to dig deep to finish the Servus Credit Union Calgary Marathon as my body felt the pressure, but I eventually pulled it through. In October, I ran three back-to-back marathons as part of my goal for the year. In 2023, I achieved my goal of running across all the Canadian provinces except Newfoundland. I was not able to run in Newfoundland because of scheduling issues. Situation. I ran full marathons in nine of the ten Canadian Provinces and also finished two half marathons, taking my total run for the year to 422 KM.

Toronto Full Marathon, Ontario – May 7, 2023 – 4 hours 13 minutes
Stewart McKelvey Fredericton Marathon | New Brunswick | 3 hours 53 minutes | May 14, 2023
Emera Blue Nose Marathon, Halifax | Nova Scotia | May 21, 2023 | 4:02;56
Servus Credit Union Calgary Marathon | Alberta | 4 hours 31 minutes | May 28, 2023
Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries Marathon | Winnipeg | June 18, 2023 | 3:59:16
2023 GMS Queen City Marathon, Regina | Saskatchewan | 3:20:49 | September 10, 2023
Beneva Quebec City Marathon | Quebec | October 1st, 2023 | 3;20:59
Royal Victoria Marathon | British Columbia | October 8th, 2023 | 3:31:15
Prince Edward Island Marathon | Charlottetown | October 15, 2023 | 3:25:13

Half Marathons

Mississauga Half Marathon | Ontario |April 30, 2023 | 1:39:53
Marathon Beneva de Montreal Half Marathon | Montreal | 1:33 | September 24, 2023.

By attempting this scary goal of mine, I was able to shatter some personal records and have more confidence in my abilities and vision. The naysayers were present at every corner, letting me know how impossible the goal was and why I was even running that much in the first place. Somedays, I almost listened to their skepticism as the challenge got tougher. I had to use their doubt as fuel during the most trying periods of the runs. Eventually, I could reduce my personal best for a full marathon from 3:44 to 3:20 and my best for a half-marathon from 1:40 to 1:33.

In their book, The Brave Athlete: Calm the F*ck Down and Rise to the Occasion, World Champion triathlete Lesley Paterson and her Sport Psychologist husband, Dr. Simon Marshall, describe the strategies for becoming a brave athlete. On the subject matter of being brave and endurance training, they remarked:

Being brave is not about acting without fear or anxiety. In fact, far from it. Being brave is about feeling fear and getting stuck in anyway.

At some point in our lives, we’ve all been told, “Be brave.” You probably first heard it from your mom or dad as you stood sobbing with a skinned knee, or when you realized that the large needle that the nurse was holding was headed for your arm. Being brave is about facing physical or mental discomfort with courage. And courage is the ability to act despite having thoughts and feelings that scream at you to run, hide, or freeze.

Being an endurance athlete doesn’t actually require you to face real danger—you know, the kind in which fate hangs in the balance and lives are at stake. Real bravery is reserved for the people who put their own lives at risk to help others. Doing stuff that scares us is surprisingly good medicine for the brain. As you start to accumulate experiences of dealing with scary stuff, your brain thanks you by physically changing to become better prepared.

Yes, your brain starts literally reorganizing itself to react in a more “we got this” way. Scientists call this “neuroplasticity,” but we call it “hardening the f*ck up.” Think about that the next time you’re stuffed into Lycra and on the verge of crapping your pants before a race. We all feel fear, but how we respond reflects our own life experiences and how we manage the expectation of emotion that comes from thinking about the future.

Doing stuff that scares us is surprisingly good medicine for the brain. As you start to accumulate experiences of dealing with scary stuff, your brain thanks you by physically changing to become better prepared.

At the end of the ten Canadian Marathon running challenges, I learned more about myself, believed in my bigger vision(s), and became more self-conscious about what is possible. It was not easy pulling it through, but I did attempt it, and the naysayers, as usual, were quick to change their words. I heard a different tone from the doubters afterwards, such as “You must have good genes”, “So incredible, I wonder how you do it,” and “I knew you could do it.” I just laugh when I hear these statements, and I remember the words of the German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer, who observed, “All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.”

“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.” – Mahatma Gandhi

The story’s moral is that whenever you attempt anything scary, people will tell you why it won’t work or why your aim is impossible. Whether it is starting a new business, moving to a new city, learning a foreign language or programming language, attempting a triathlon or going after your dream, the naysayers would try to convince you not to attempt it. As the character of Will Smith in the movie The Pursuit of Happiness implored his son :

“Don’t ever let someone tell you that you can’t do something. Not even me. You got a dream, you gotta protect it. When people can’t do something themselves, they’re gonna tell you that you can’t do it. You want something go get it. Period.”

The naysayers will always tell you why you can’t do something. If you believe in something, attempt to achieve it; if you fail the first time, try again. The key is to keep trying not to lose faith in yourself and your abilities.

Meditations

Daily Calm with Tamara Levitt – The Gift of Failure.

Most of us tend to be hard on ourselves; the self-judgment can be unrelenting, especially when we make mistakes. We think of our errors as failures but can sometimes lead us to unforeseen paths, deeper understandings or new discoveries. Mistakes and failures are part of life but mindfulness allows us to consider how we want to respond in the moment when things don’t work out the way it was planned.
Self-criticism and Judgment shut us down, whereas compassion and forgiveness open us up. Practice self-compassion and forgiveness because you never know where your mistakes could lead, the personal growth awaiting you and what you will learn.

“Many times what we perceive as an error or failure is actually a gift. And eventually we find that lessons learned from that discouraging experience prove to be of great worth.”― Richelle E. Goodrich,

Daily Jay with Jay Shetty – Check Your Assumptions

Just like the Wheel of Fortune game shows participants, we often jump to conclusions, filling in the blanks without all of the information leading us to the wrong path. Studies show that when we don’t have the full picture, most of us fill in the blank with something negative: assuming the worst. Pause and Investigate. You can opt for self-compassion instead of self-judgment and kindness over criticism.

Daily Trip with Jeff Warren – The Great Transformer

Podcast