Go One More: Find the Clarity to Make Intentional, Life-Changing Choices

by Nick Bare

The only constant we can expect is change. It will happen whether we fight it or invite it. The summation of our life’s choices will determine the success we achieve and the fulfillment we experience from those decisions. The question differs from how we react to change to how prepared we are to adapt and evolve. We need clarity to make intentional, life-changing choices and create a legacy that reaches our most significant potential.

“Running is a sport where you are alone in your head navigating immense levels of discomfort. Running and similar tests of endurance provide the perfect backdrop for studying toughness.”

you can be so focused on the wrong things in life, or on just one thing in your life, that you end up neglecting everything and everyone else. It’s lost perspective. The people and things that need to be the focus of your life suddenly become only part of your life.

As they say, comparison is the thief of joy.

just because they’re doing all these things does not mean they’re progressing in life.

If not me, then who? If you’re going to be consistent about something, then you’re going to have to be brave enough to start. That’s the difference between having confidence and having courage.

The goal isn’t to maintain one-hundred miles per hour for your entire lifetime. That’s impossible. Instead, the goal is to never let off the gas, even if you can only maintain five miles per hour for certain segments. No matter what, keep moving forward.

Simple, right? It was one of the hardest things I ever had to do in my life. It took years to get better and rebuild a healthy relationship with food. Even to this day, my eating disorder still gets triggered at different intersections of my life. It’s something I will live with forever. It’s a part of me that is dormant for long periods of time and then awakened out of nowhere, typically when I feel like I’m losing control.

“Consistency won’t guarantee success,” he said, “But not being consistent will guarantee that you won’t be successful. And not electing to do hard things very regularly would probably be a close second.”

Endurance is patience. It’s consistency. It’s the work over a long period of time. It’s wisdom.

We set big, ambitious, and intimidating goals and then fight to achieve them. At some point, however, that excitement begins to die. Fatigue begins to accumulate not only in the body, but also the mind. Mile after mile. Run after run. Week after week. This is the process that is required to successfully complete a marathon.

change isn’t a threat to our security and safety but an invitation to something bigger and potentially better. Regardless of what the transition looks like, whether it’s good, bad, or ugly, it is important in guiding a powerful and meaningful life.

So, why run? It is you versus you. You keep driving through the little pieces of pain that you’re experiencing in your legs. Those pieces go a long way to developing something inside of you. Your lungs burn when you first get started and you begin gasping for air as you attempt to move your legs faster than they can sustain. Running is humbling. Running teaches us discipline, focus, and the power of consistent action. Running builds confidence. And running creates opportunities for mental clarity that I haven’t been able to unlock anywhere else in my entire life. It is so much more than just “running.” Once you realize that, you’re probably already addicted.

Running, lifting weights, training, sweating, breathing heavily, and putting forth effort with our God-given bodies is a standard, not an exception.