I Started Off Just Like You

I was like most people with low confidence and low self esteem. As  a preteen, I struggled with my place in the world.  Issues from my childhood haunted me to a large degree throughout my life. While in college I found an unbelievable human power.  At the beginning of the year in the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC), we had to run a 2-mile course for time, for two years. I would come in third or fourth. We had one runner for my first two years who would beat everyone and talk massive trash afterwards. During mid year we had to run again, and I came in second and for some reason the peacocking got to me. As we were leaving the course my instructor looked me dead in the eye and said, “You will never beat him if you don’t embrace your inner power and push yourself.”  

That summer, I stayed at school and started to run each day with a marathon runner. We would start out together, but by mile four he would leave me standing still but I never stop running.  He said, we were going to run ten miles and I ran those ten miles, even if the last five were by myself. This journey continued all summer until one day I ran the complete ten miles right alongside that marathon runner. At that moment, my life changed – I had found my Mission Strategy and Destination (MS&D).

As I entered our third year in ROTC, the new year run was on my mind. The morning  of the run it was unusually cold, and as we walked up to the start line our instructor looked at me and said , “I guess you going to lose for a third straight year, or did you find a mojo over this summer?  I just smiled and winked at him.

As he called, “On Your Mark Get Set Go”, I pressed the issue from the start. I pressed the rhythm of the race and the pace. As we cleared the first mile, I could hear him struggling with the pace. I knew in his mind he thought I could not keep this pace up. As we entered the second mile, I increased the pace and gap between us. As we rounded the last quarter mile, I pressed even harder, and the gap grew. As I crossed the finish line the look on my instructor's face was enough to know that I did not my find my mojo, I Embrace my Inner Power!