Friday, September 19, 2014

Fear is a Liar

I've been thinking a lot about fear lately.

I've been thinking about what I'm afraid of.

Snakes, mostly. Not much else.

But being afraid of something isn't really fear.

Fear is anxiety over what might happen.

Fear is our reaction to thinking into the future and imagining bad things happening.

Fear is literally a figment of our imagination.

Fear keeps many people from running.

Whenever I talk to people about running, people who aren't themselves runners, they can rattle of a several reasons why they don't run. It usually starts with some knee thing. Then stuff about breathing, shin splints, ankles, their back, neck, hip, or hamstring. And there's the traffic, busy schedules, heat, cold, sun, dark, rain, snow and unicorns.

The truth is that they are, at that moment, imagining all of the things that could possibly, just maybe might, go wrong, and using those bits of dark make-believe to justify not running.

That is fear at work.

It's the same fear that keeps people from dancing*, singing, and trying something new. It's what keeps way too many people from having fun, seizing the damn day, and living a life that will put a grin on your face that the mortician won't be able to take off.

What if we thought about running the way we think about eating?

When most of us see a box of donuts, or my personal favorite food fantasy, a never ending plate of fudge brownies, we imagine how delicious they will be, how creamy and yummy and sugary and good they will taste.

We don't think about the sugar rush and crash. We don't think about the empty calories that end up on our thighs. We don't think about the plaque building up in our veins. We don't think about the bad things that could... actually, will happen. We only see the upside.

Why don't we think like that about running?

Why don't we imagine the feeling of calm we'd have or how warm and loose we'd be after a run. Why don't we think about how much better our quality of life would be if our blood pressure, cholesterol, and weight were down. Why don't we imagine the peaceful experience of our rhythmic footfalls, our steady breathing, and the joy of being out, experiencing our world?

Our early ancestors needed to eat fatty, sugar foods when they could be found, which for them was rare, so we evolved to crave them. I can see how that makes sense.

But I also believe that we evolved to be great runners, and we know that running is good for us. And it feels good!

Why don't we crave it?

I know.. some of us do, those of us who have run right over those early fears and have reaped the benefits of a running lifestyle, including brownies.

But the vast majority of people fear running.

We're a weird species.

Good running,
Doug