Faith, Food and Fitness

My husband decided this week to set me up with an opportunity to be uncomfortable. Now at first glance that seems like not such a nice thing to do but he had incredibly good intentions. You see our former pastor is working on a podcast series and my husband thought it would be a good idea to volunteer me to help him. See good intentions. The problems is that I have to talk about myself. Yuck. You might think that because I have a blog and a social media presence that talking about myself comes easy. Think again. Now, if I was in the other seat and got to listen to someone else talk about their life and how certain topics pertained to them, I’d be far less uncomfortable. I think it is the fact that one must become vulnerable when talking about one’s own life because by doing so it is letting the outside in.

With writing you have chance to look over what you are saying and correct and edit before anyone else has a chance to see it or comment on it. When you are speaking to someone whatever you say is heard by the other person as soon as it comes out of your mouth. Perhaps I should employ one of those old techniques of picturing people in their underwear...Yeah, I’d rather not. Not sure how that would actually help anyone any way. So back to my husband and trying to help me. See he knows how much I hate to talk on the phone or in public etc., as I always make him do it for me. He is truly trying to help me overcome or at least learn to adapt to being in situations where I have to speak out and be in a more uncomfortable situation. Its hard to become better at something if you never do it.

If I were to relate this to my running its pretty straight-forward. How does one become better at running or learn to run faster? Simple: run more and run faster. Funny how when you break it down to it’s core it is indeed very simple. To run better one must run more. To learn to speak in public one must speak in public. It goes both ways. Too bad I don’t love speaking in public or about myself the same way I love running. It’s a lot easier when you love the subject. It makes the work far more enjoyable. For example, in training, tempo runs are a great way to build endurance and speed. This type of run is designed so that you push yourself to the point of being uncomfortable. It is often called being “comfortably uncomfortable.” You put yourself in the position to endure.

It is with this enduring that we learn and grow. Not just in our running but also in our life. Without life’s struggles we would never change. And with change comes so many new possibilities. As the first guest on Rev. Jay Grave’s new podcast I was able to discuss my feelings on faith, food and fitness within the scope of this past week’s sermon on Rev. 21. How we must balance our daily struggles along with our hope for the future. Please take a few minutes to listen here. This week I chose to learn to grow despite being uncomfortable. I hope you will do the same.

Thanks for reading!