One of the activites I like to do to workout is walk. I do a combination of walking and running laps. I’ve worked my way up to walking 4 miles in almost under an hour.
A couple of weeks ago, the weather was iffy, so I decide to chance it and go on my walk anyway. About four laps in, a light rain begins. It’s not enough to stop the workout, but it does change the conditions considerably. Nevertheless, I decide to keep walking.
A few more laps in, 1 mile under my belt, the light rain picks up. The track is slick, so no running. Between the combination of rain and sweat, I’m already wet, so I decide to keep walking.
A few more laps in, about 1 1/2 – 2 miles behind me, the rain picks up even more. Water standing on the track. My socks are soaked and my shoes are squishy. I use my phone to keep up with my time, so by now, the phone is malfunctioning due to all the rain drops hitting the surface. I’m approaching the halfway point of my workout at this point. I’m too invested in the walk to drop out now. Plus, there’s no lightning, so no need to have to cancel over threatening weather conditions. I decide to keep walking.
Around mile 3, I notice that the rain is starting to pass through. The rainfall is getting lighter. I figure that if I can walk when it’s heavier, I can continue now. I press on, I decide to keep walking.
As I complete the workout, the rain completely leaves. The light breeze helps dry me off. When I reach my four miles, I realize that I outlasted the storm – because I decided to keep walking.
I left the gym that day having learned a valuable lesson. The fitness world teaches you push through, to persevere, to meet that goal of benching those last few reps, to go that extra mile (no pun intended), to look past the obstacle in front of you and set your sight on the goal. While that mindset applies to that moment, the bigger lesson I learned was that I outlasted the storm: I kept going until I finished my goal of walking four miles. The storm? It didn’t last. I was still walking after the rain stopped falling.
Since that day, I’ve taken that experience and that lesson and applied to some other personal problems I’m facing. I learned that problems do pass. I learned that they do not last forever. I learned that I could still be standing long after the bad weather has moved on, but only if I decide to keep walking. I outlasted the storm because I decided to keep walking.
Outlast your storm. Decide to keep walking.