The Power of Language

Last Saturday evening was a local 5-K run called Dog Days. As usual it was very hot and humid, so the name was fitting. A group of us decided to run this race at more or less the last minute, not deciding until about 4:30 to run the 6:00 PM race.

During the drive to the race I was telling myself two things:
1) I'm not a good heat and humidity runner.
2) I'm not an evening runner (I much prefer the early morning hours for running).

I did manage to place 1st in my age group with an 8:25 mile pace over the rolling hills of the 5-K course. I knew it wasn't my best run, but I was ok with the results.

Were either of the two statements I had been telling myself useful in any way? It's interesting how the mind believes what we tell it - in fact, I would suggest that when we really believe our own perspective or version of a given situation, our brains can't tell the difference from reality.

A better way of stating those two perspectives might have been:
1) I prefer to run in cool temperatures and with conditioning I'm becoming a better heat & humidity runner all the time.
2) I prefer to run in the early morning hours, and my evening running pace is still strong enough to keep up with many runners.

We can get ourselves in even more trouble with absolute words such as "never", "always", or
even dramatic wording such as "I'm starving", "This hot weather is killing me", or "I'm dying to get out of here". Even self-deprecating phrases such as "I'm an idiot" are harmful to our psyche.

We may not have control over events in our life, situations we face, or challenges (whether they are ones we seek out such as athletics, or ones that show up on the doorstep of our lives unexpectedly). We do have control over the language we choose to use. It's wise to be mindful of the language we choose to use because our brain just may believe it as if it is real.

Listen to the language you are using - both your "outside voice" (spoken to the rest of the world) and your "inside voice" (spoken inside of your own head). It's your story to tell. Are you telling the version you want to be real?