To the Rising College Freshman--The Light Post Lecture

Dear Rising College Freshman,

Anyone who has ever started a running program knows the dread of the first run.
"I’m gonna get all sweaty. What if I hurt myself? I look ridiculous in these shorts, I should wait until it gets colder and wear sweats. I feel like a fraud."
But running is the best, most effective way to get and stay healthy. The muscles have to push all that weight into the air and forward; wearing them out and building them up. The pounding of foot on hard surface jars the bones into building themselves into a stronger protective device. Adrenaline washes over the brain, allowing moments of euphoria to remain as a positive attitude. Running is good.
But the first run…is not much of a run at all. It is picking a light post in the distance, sprinting to it while fighting one's formerly-stationary body’s attempt to put a halt to this attack. It is torture, this placing one foot in front of the other, moving the arms forward and back, and having to breathe all at the same time. IN, two, three, four, OUT, two, three, four. Gasping for breath, muscles burning, sweat pouring from the brow, the runner rejects the former goal, choosing a closer light post, and manages to slog across the final crack in the sidewalk.
"Whew. I can’t breathe. That was awful. Did anyone see me?"
But quickly the breath returns without having to pant, the muscles cool, and the runner picks another light post and repeats the task. If the newbie stays with it, in a week, she will run past that first light post to the second on the first try, and within six weeks, she can make it two miles without stopping. Then, as the runner trots along the path, she begins to think about the new shoes she saw and how to find the money to buy them. It becomes…dare I say it? Easy.
Beginnings are painful. You don’t remember learning to walk, but your mama can tell you about the bruises on your forehead from falling into the coffee table. Learning to read (all of those strange symbols, first individually, then paired, then finally grouped into strange sounds and coherent meanings) opened the world to you. Football plays. Band. Algebra. Boys/Girls. Spanish III. They were all painful beginnings, but you pushed past and conquered. I will tell you the truth, even at age 107, beginnings are always painful. They always will be, but the more beginnings experienced, the less daunting they become.
The trick is to keep from having to re-experience a beginning you have already begun. If you have already been a runner, run to maintain your fitness level. You just triumphed over psychology, government, and Beowulf. Now, read something daily, so reading is not the struggle, the struggle is discovering which philosopher said “Education is the best provision for the journey to old age.” Maintain. If you maintain a level of ability, the “bang ups and hang ups” you experience along your route will not devastate every aspect of your being, they will simply knock you on your butt.  However, maintaining an acceptable level allows you to know that you are capable of getting back up under your own power.
A good deal of life is lived as you make your way down a two mile run. Your life will be going along steadily when you suddenly realize you are at the top of a hill with a vista that takes your breath away. It fills your soul and you are motivated to move forward at a quicker pace and through the valley to come. Randomly, you will have days that feel as if you are only capable of gasping to that first light post. Say to yourself, “I have enough to get to that light post” and do it, as that moment will pass and you will find that you have more to give the next time. When you decide that you are ready to invite someone to join you, be sure that they like and respect your chosen path and pace, as it is entirely different to view a beautiful vista with someone who gets it and someone who does not.

With Love, Mrs. J