Struggling to make things happen? Me, too.  But the struggle needs to be tempered with appreciation for the journey.

Even though it is questionable as to whether the Dalai Lama actually said this or someone credited him by mistake, it really is a good quote, isn’t it? We so admire how athletes of every age, size, shape and ability will put themselves through a marathon run. It is a test of strength, training, endurance, conditioning and a certain amount of pride in going for and completing something most of us wish we could claim but never will.

It is also a test of will; willingness to go through the rigors of working up to that capability by running after dark or early in the morning when no one is there to cheer you on, no one there to tell you that you can do it. You’re there, by yourself, accomplishing something for yourself and perhaps for others you inspire.

We run marathons every day trying to raise our kids better, get a better job, make more money, pay off bills, get a better home or car, improve ourselves and make a difference in someone else’s life. The LA Marathon today included people who were missing limbs or other body parts you and I take for granted, yet, there they were, striving to achieve something, perhaps for themselves but also perhaps for someone else who needed to see that anything is possible. Others were there with other types of ailments and diseases, and they showed up this morning to raise money and awareness and to perhaps run for a friend or family member lost. Some just wanted to be a part of something much bigger than themselves and, whether they were there in person or watching it from the comfort of their own home like me, there was a certain pride and a great amount of appreciation that spilled over the airwaves and made me, too, feel a certain amount of pride in all this. Heavy rains were predicted all week long and many came dressed to expect running through puddles and finishing in soaked tennies, but they still came. The heavy rains never happened, leaving me to wonder if an entity greater than all of us had a hand in that, too.

I think about these folks, about this event and how it pulled together thousands, if only for a few hours, for a special event filled with excitement and anticipation. I think about all the preparation that happened, all the changed diets, the training, the going out and practicing even after an incredibly hard day. I think about how goals were set and goals were met, all on the level of just one individual’s dreams at a time. How wonderfully satisfied they must feel, crossing that finish line and knowing they did it, they really did it.

My mind shifts to a funeral I attended a while back.

A vibrantly intelligent gift of a Doctor friend of ours, still in his mid-sixties, decided to go up on his roof 15 months ago to fix something on top of his two-story house. (He attacked life like that, just heading into things and getting them accomplished that he had set his mind to doing.)

Unfortunately, Dr. Dybnis slipped and fell and, after sustaining a blow to his head, went into a coma immediately and never came back to us. Visits to his bedside were feeble attempts to resurrect an old friend who’s voice, in a different scenario, would have been the first one you heard as you walked toward that hospital room.  He, too, ran his own marathon every day, helping his patients whether they could pay or not, teaching his students far and away more useful information for their own successful careers than they could possibly know at the time, always seeing who needed help and then quietly providing it, because he was just that kind of person. Doc is already missed, of course, but that’s more about our discomfort and need for solace. More accurately, make this a tribute to him and the lessons about the greater gifts he left us; that his efforts, his influence and his presence in our lives remains a positive footnote to all whom he touched in some way.

Run your marathon. Keep up the struggle to be your best and continue to push me to be my best, too, because we’re worth it. But, along that path, enjoy your gifts and appreciate every minute you get to have them. Give yourself away to others for the greater good.  Marvelous, lasting,  positive things can happen when you do.

© 2017 Dave Ribble , Author & Coach                                                                                                                                                  The Way of The Conscientious Connector                                                                                                            StandOut Marketing Strategies, A Promotional Marketing Consultancy