Anyone who knows me, in the teaching world or running world, knows I am 100% growth mindset oriented. I love to set goals for myself and love a good challenge. I love and appreciate criticism from others (as long as it's done in love) and seriously take it all into consideration. When I see other people succeed, I think to myself.."hey...if they can do it, why can't I do it to?"
Upon hearing that I have a blog, acquaintances and friends have asked me what it is about. I always find I fail to accurately summarize it. "Well, it's about my running, and cleaning up my diet, and losing weight, and teaching, and, and, and..." And yes, my blog is about those things. But in reality, I think a better way to summarize my blog is that it is about the beauty of struggle. Yep, that's right. The Beauty of Struggle (hmmm...if I ever need to rename my blog, I think I've found a winner). Struggle is how we grow. I've struggled with my weight, struggled to be nourished, struggled to train, to race, and in my teaching. Yet each struggle has made me a stronger, more confident, and healthier person. Each struggle has made me just a little more comfortable in my own skin...a far cry from the girl I was in high school and college. Struggle is at the root of all success. Without struggle, there would be no growth. Struggle, and sometimes failure, is a tool to those with a growth mindset...
In the last few weeks, I've experienced some struggle of my own, not related to running, or eating, or teaching. Some internal struggle. It has not been fun and I'm still working on finding some silver linings...but I already know that I have learned one thing. I am meant to be around those who share in the growth mindset way of thinking. Nate told me the other day - "nothing infuriates the motivated person more than those who don't understand input and output." Um yep (raises hand). That would be me! I simply do not understand people with a fixed mindset. And, sadly, I really have no patience for them whatsoever.
But my blog is not just about struggle. It is also about positivity. I believe those with a growth mindset are inherently positive people. They believe in their ability to make the best of a crappy situation. When life hands them lemons, they make lemonade and drink it with a shot of Patron. ;-) Through this struggle I've experienced in the last few weeks, I've learned something else about myself...
I. Can not. Not. Not. Not...I repeat...NOT...be around people who are negative. They drain me and suck me in and turn me into a gremlin. And not the cute daytime gremlins. The after midnight gremlins...like this...
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| RARRRR GREMLIN! |
I have worked so hard to surround myself with positive people, I no longer have a wall to buffer myself against negativity. Negative people give me anxiety attacks (no joke, that happened more than once in the last two months). They steal my sunshine and my energy. I can tell myself I'm just never going to be around negative people again, but I know that's a ridiculous claim to make. They will turn up in my life, and I need to find a way to deal. I suppose that is my next step in moving on from my "struggle." And, since I have a growth-mindset, I will take this crappy experience I've had, and learn and grow from it. I WILL find a way to buffer and protect myself against negative nellies, and to respond to them, without betraying my values and beliefs. (And this is where all of you who have had a similar experience floods my inbox with recommendations on how to deal, please and thank you). Learning from this situation, and moving on, will be my way to heal from it. And holy crap, I hope that learning comes soon.
And on that note, a thought to leave you with...
Damn. Freaking. Straight.
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