Quitter

It's a good thing when you can laugh at yourself, right? I did a lot of laughing at our stories this week, and hopefully you will too! Enjoy some of our "Valentimes" and other stories!

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Mondays are usually my busiest days of the week. I spend several hours editing the podcast and I have many house chores to complete every week. Every now and then, my long to-do list exhausts me, but usually it has the opposite effect. I thrive on crossing items off the list and actually feel pretty energized at the end of the day.

Usually.

Then there are days like yesterday. My mind spun most of the day, because I'm in the home stretch of prepping for some speaking, and I'm in that phase where I cannot afford to forget anything. I'm terrified something ridiculously important will fall through the cracks, so I'm trying to pay extra careful attention. I'm praying hard over the event at hand, and I'm working to make sure I have absolutely no regrets about the amount of time and effort I've put forth in my preparation.

All of that, of course, in addition to the aforementioned typical Monday tasks.

At the end of the day, Ryan and I went to work out together, and about three-tenths of a mile into my run, I was done.

Mentally done.

I couldn't focus on the run because my mind was still spinning with work stuff. My body was tight and tired from not working out for a few days. I was utterly distracted by conversations happening around me, and worst of all, I was letting Satan fill my mind with a bunch of lies.

I knew it was happening, but I didn't fight it very hard.

And finally, 1.8 miles into the run, I punched the red button on the treadmill. Ryan looked over and asked what I was doing.

I quit.

He just stared at me, because that's not like me.

I quit. I don't care. I'm done.

And with that, I stepped off the treadmill and sat down to feel sorry for myself until he was finished working out.

I don't tell you this story because I'm proud of it. Quite the opposite, actually. But I tell you because we all have days when we quit, and I think we can learn two things from it.

First, we need to apply some grace to our lives and understand that one bout of quitting doesn't make us quitters. I'm not a failure because I failed at yesterday's workout. I may have made a poor choice I regret, but I am not a personal, total failure because of that choice.

Secondly, we need to allow those quitting moments to fuel us to do better next time. I'll get back on that treadmill today, and I won't quit. I may not feel any better than I felt yesterday. I can't guarantee I'll be free from Satan's pesky lies. But I will not quit. I will fight through it, and even if I come away with a terrible time on the clock, I will come away with a full run.

Ryan was kind and helped me rally after the workout so the whole evening wasn't a loss. And today I will get back on that machine and prove to him the words he spoke settled into my mind.

Yes, I quit. But today I will begin again!