As I write this I just finished my second half marathon in less than a year.  I never thought I would write or say this. I never considered running any distance because of my physical health. As my physical health improved, I began challenging myself to try harder things. I learned that part of my wellness journey relied on my willingness to challenge myself.

Challenging Yourself Supports Goals

In previous posts I’ve written about setting goals and creating strategies to support reaching your goals.  While your SMART goals should be achievable, challenging yourself to do something you thought was impossible builds confidence.  Like your SMART goals, as your skills and health improve you should build upon the things you challenge yourself to do.

Many of our goals are going to be a challenge, that’s part of going on a wellness journey.  Our goals are challenging, but we will face unexpected challenges along the way. How we face them determines whether we meet our goals. However, not meeting one challenge doesn’t mean the journey is over.  We just may have to find a new way to reach them.

Your Goals Should be Challenging

When we set goals, they will be challenging, but each will vary in how hard they are to reach.  Losing ten pounds, 100 pounds or more is difficult.  Losing weight isn’t easy. It took time to put the weight on and will take time to lose it. Similarly, running a mile may be easy for some and harder for others.  As we grow in our abilities the things we challenge ourselves to do grow in difficulty or they seem to.

When I started my wellness journey, walking for thirty minutes without stopping seemed unachievable.  As I grew my skills through consistently working toward my goals, the challenges seemed to get harder. However, it’s all about perspective. It’s all difficult, but as you reach one goal or overcome a challenge in the road, your confidence grows. As you top one mountain, you go for another one, a higher one.

Building on the Challenges Put in Front of Us

As with your goals, which as you have seen go hand in hand with challenges, as you meet one challenge build on it.  Challenging ourselves to go higher, farther, faster or do something we’ve never done is hard, but it can be fun. Moreso, it’s a confidence builder.  As our confidence grows, we tend to try harder because we know we have the ability to achieve anything put in front of us. 

When I set the goal to run a 5k, I had never run a mile in my life without stopping.  I was 38 years old and decided to give running a try. It felt impossible and crazy.  When I ran my first mile, which was one of the biggest challenges to that point in my wellness journey, my confidence grew immensely.  At that point I realized I could achieve anything with consistent effort.  It grew from there as I kept pushing myself.

Pushing Yourself Through

Since reaching goals and challenging yourself isn’t easy, you have to continually push yourself to move through. Talking yourself through or having support during the process helps push through. To face any challenge or reach any goal it takes consistency.

When I ran my first half marathon, there were many points during my training and during the race where I thought I couldn’t go on.  Reminding myself of all the challenges I had overcome helped push me through when I wanted to stop.  Having people in my corner who genuinely cared helped keep me going.  Through both my half marathons I had family and friends texting me support while I gave them updates. Even though they weren’t physically there, their confidence in me pushed me through.  I really didn’t want to disappoint them or me. 

Pushing through isn’t always easy and sometimes it’s not the wisest thing to do.  This can cause injuries or other long-term issues.  While pushing your body, mind and spirit is good, listening to your body and doing it right is essential. Society praises people who overcome challenges, but there are limits. Sometimes you have to step back, reset and approach it from a different perspective.  Sometimes restarting is part of the challenge.

Feeling More Confident in Yourself

As you overcome challenges in your life and in your wellness journey you will feel your confidence grow.  You may feel unsure at the beginning. Even moreso, you may find yourself questioning what you’re doing throughout the journey. Even as I ran my second half marathon, I was questioning what I was doing. It was cold, windy and the course was hilly, I texted a friend to ask her what I was thinking. When I finished I felt so good.

The struggle to meet a challenge is not supposed to be easy. Overcoming something that we thought was never going to be achievable provides the most amazing feeling you can possibly experience.  Your confidence will swell, and you’ll want to push harder, try new things and move forward. Any challenge is achievable, it takes consistency, the right attitude and willingness to push forward.