I love this so much Steve, for so many reasons. There is beautiful writing here for sure. This, "because this is love and I know it." and this, " My three friends have arrived ahead of me...whooping, hollering, clapping, cheering, loving me in." and this, "I know there has to be something other than just doing hard things to build resilience. There has to be something else." As always, I am inspired by your running, by your resilience (not just in running) and by your grace, the love with which you greet challenges and people and how you deeply cherish the people who do these hard things with you. I think that's really what I feel in this piece, there is obviously love, that spills over, and there is this thing that you've done in your life that you manage to capture in your writing, without saying it: you have let people in. You have let people love you and help you and support you. That, to me, is the aboutness of this piece, the resilience if you will. It's that you allow. Allow the love in as well as give it out. Such a beautiful thing and I'm not sure I'm very good at the letting of it in part. Thank you so much for sharing this. .✨❤️
Thank you so much for this Jocelyn. It's funny how I have an idea that I'm going to write about something for maybe a couple of posts. And like you said, the aboutness evolves in the writing and I find out that there's so much more to explore, to sit with, to enjoy so it turns out I can write multiple posts about a moving target. Love always seems to be the catalyst to all the good that happens in my life so I'm happy that I can convey that to others and that you can see this. Definitely more to come.😉
Yes! That happens to me too - sometimes I don't even realize it until I'm two or three posts in and I see the common thread. You do a great job of seeing the thread and then writing around it as a series. I love that. Can't wait for more!
Thank you, Jocelyn. The series thing came about because I put a constraint on how much I’m going to say in a single post; if I didn’t do it I’d be writing books here🤣
Steve, I have fallen behind on keeping up with your excellent articles, so I'm just now reading this. I try to think back on difficult things that I have accomplished, and none of them matched the kind of consistent unswerving persistence that I observe in your mountain running. It reminded me of something I went back to reread about a week ago from the writing of Dr. George Vaillant, a Harvard medical school psychiatrist/psychoanalyst who has written extensively. including writing about an over 50 year long longitudinal study of a few hundred Harvard graduates, Male graduates because only male students were at Harvard when the study started in 1938. What came to mind as I read your words had to do with your inword journey that was accompanying your outward journey .. Valilant Rights that the men with the most successful, that is happiest than most fulfilling, lives, used eight healthy" defense mechanisms" – Affiliation
Altruism
Anticipation
Humor
Self-assertion
Self observation
Sublimation
Suppression As I struggled along beside you, as I followed the words you shared about your difficult climb, I was very impressed by your self observation, and how important that was for your success. I can see why it can be extrapolated as a positive mechanism for any of us, and almost any aspect of our lives. Thank you Steve for the stimulating writing.
Thank you Don for such an insightful response. And thank you for introducing me to the work of Dr Valilant. I looked at the list of those eight qualities wondering how I measured up and you’re right, the self introspection is essential to even be aware of any of those qualities being a possibility. Thank you again Don for your support of this work.
I loved Jocelyn’s response also. I’m really leaning into considering love these days. Yes, it’s an action and a decision but my wish is that it would be more reflexive for me. Definitely going to reflect about this more. Thanks, Emily.
I am just catching up with your birthday celebration.
"I feel it in my throat, the welling in my eyes, my heart filling and filling and filling because this is who we are, this is what we do, this is what we’ve done for miles upon miles, year after year, and especially for today. I look deeply into each face, remembering, remembering last year, and the year before that, and the year before that. The familiar cliché is true: runners wear dark shades so that no one else can see our tears. I wear mirrored lenses because no one else can see the spillover happening because this is love and I know it."
I swear I got a rush of endorphins just reading your words!
Wow! Glad it got you going. Thanks so much, Stan.
I love this so much Steve, for so many reasons. There is beautiful writing here for sure. This, "because this is love and I know it." and this, " My three friends have arrived ahead of me...whooping, hollering, clapping, cheering, loving me in." and this, "I know there has to be something other than just doing hard things to build resilience. There has to be something else." As always, I am inspired by your running, by your resilience (not just in running) and by your grace, the love with which you greet challenges and people and how you deeply cherish the people who do these hard things with you. I think that's really what I feel in this piece, there is obviously love, that spills over, and there is this thing that you've done in your life that you manage to capture in your writing, without saying it: you have let people in. You have let people love you and help you and support you. That, to me, is the aboutness of this piece, the resilience if you will. It's that you allow. Allow the love in as well as give it out. Such a beautiful thing and I'm not sure I'm very good at the letting of it in part. Thank you so much for sharing this. .✨❤️
Thank you so much for this Jocelyn. It's funny how I have an idea that I'm going to write about something for maybe a couple of posts. And like you said, the aboutness evolves in the writing and I find out that there's so much more to explore, to sit with, to enjoy so it turns out I can write multiple posts about a moving target. Love always seems to be the catalyst to all the good that happens in my life so I'm happy that I can convey that to others and that you can see this. Definitely more to come.😉
Yes! That happens to me too - sometimes I don't even realize it until I'm two or three posts in and I see the common thread. You do a great job of seeing the thread and then writing around it as a series. I love that. Can't wait for more!
Thank you, Jocelyn. The series thing came about because I put a constraint on how much I’m going to say in a single post; if I didn’t do it I’d be writing books here🤣
Steve, I have fallen behind on keeping up with your excellent articles, so I'm just now reading this. I try to think back on difficult things that I have accomplished, and none of them matched the kind of consistent unswerving persistence that I observe in your mountain running. It reminded me of something I went back to reread about a week ago from the writing of Dr. George Vaillant, a Harvard medical school psychiatrist/psychoanalyst who has written extensively. including writing about an over 50 year long longitudinal study of a few hundred Harvard graduates, Male graduates because only male students were at Harvard when the study started in 1938. What came to mind as I read your words had to do with your inword journey that was accompanying your outward journey .. Valilant Rights that the men with the most successful, that is happiest than most fulfilling, lives, used eight healthy" defense mechanisms" – Affiliation
Altruism
Anticipation
Humor
Self-assertion
Self observation
Sublimation
Suppression As I struggled along beside you, as I followed the words you shared about your difficult climb, I was very impressed by your self observation, and how important that was for your success. I can see why it can be extrapolated as a positive mechanism for any of us, and almost any aspect of our lives. Thank you Steve for the stimulating writing.
Thank you Don for such an insightful response. And thank you for introducing me to the work of Dr Valilant. I looked at the list of those eight qualities wondering how I measured up and you’re right, the self introspection is essential to even be aware of any of those qualities being a possibility. Thank you again Don for your support of this work.
Thank you, Steve for the other half:). I love Jocelyn’s comments on this one. Absolutely agree.
I loved Jocelyn’s response also. I’m really leaning into considering love these days. Yes, it’s an action and a decision but my wish is that it would be more reflexive for me. Definitely going to reflect about this more. Thanks, Emily.
That’s my hope for myself as well, Steve. I don’t notice love. I’d like to more often.
That is the hope 🙏
I am just catching up with your birthday celebration.
"I feel it in my throat, the welling in my eyes, my heart filling and filling and filling because this is who we are, this is what we do, this is what we’ve done for miles upon miles, year after year, and especially for today. I look deeply into each face, remembering, remembering last year, and the year before that, and the year before that. The familiar cliché is true: runners wear dark shades so that no one else can see our tears. I wear mirrored lenses because no one else can see the spillover happening because this is love and I know it."
This is wonderful. Your voice is coming through.
Thank you Kara. I like writing this way when I just let my writing run free without constraint.
I didn’t even know all of this — and I was there ! Very illuminating of the interiors and meanings - so glad to know !!
Thank you, Andrea. It’s all about the interior that has so much to do with motivation and actually doing the hard things.