the art of not listening to yourself

sunday morning I awakened tired.  I sat on my couch sipping coffee thinking that I was exhausted and my knees ached and I would probably never ride a bike again.  or at least not that day.
halfway through my cup of coffee I started thinking about what time I might leave, and what route I would take, and if my legs would make it.

and then I got on my bike.

I rode up emigration and down to the reservoir, then started up big mountain.  it wasn't until I had about 15 miles in that I finally decided I was capable of riding, that I was actually going to make it to my destination and back home.

the entire first 15 miles were a battle between competing thoughts:  I can do this, I will do this, I am fine . . . and there's no way, I'm not going to make it, I should turn around now.

to be honest, those latter little thoughts pop into my head just about every ride.  they begin while I'm sitting on the couch contemplating a ride, and they niggle away at me until I'm well, well into a ride.  and what I've learned is that I simply can't give in to them.
that's all there is to it.
if I gave in to all of the "I can't, I don't wanna, it's too hard" thoughts that pepper my mind, I would never do anything challenging.  because they are always there.

therefor, I call it the art of not listening to yourself.
the art come in with the separation of empowering thoughts from those that disempower and turn us into couch potatoes.  the art is in choosing to pay attention to thoughts of how you truly want to be, what you truly want, who you are deep down in beneath all of the muck that we collect as we move throughout the community, state, world.

I work hard not to listen to the "no way" thoughts.
and my new trick is to do what coaches and trainers have been telling athletes to do for decades:
visualize yourself at the finish line.
I picture myself throwing my arms up in exultation, looking and feeling thrilled and awesome, tucking one more success under my proverbial belt.  I visualize myself feeling great, not dragging myself over that end point.  I visualize myself ending with gusto.
and it seems to work.

so I'm continuing to strengthen my art.  I am not perfect, but I'm tired of those "I can't, I donwanna, it's too hard, I'm not good enough" thoughts.  it's time to move onward.  I am capable, I am strong, I can do whatever I set my mind to.
life is not long enough to waste any time on negativity.

so join me in visualizing the end results.  bravo!  brava!  woo hoo!!
encore!