Life is a Marathon, Not a Sprint

Recently, I had the opportunity to participate in the cross-country run organized by my school. It was my last run and best run from me. That event somehow changed my perspective on life. To be fair, I begin to appreciate marathon after reading a book by Haruki Murakami; What I Talk about When I Talk About Running.

 



From his writing, I can feel the passion for writing and running. He makes me realize that life is not all about the one battle you fought and won. Instead, life is about the many small battles that you fight along your marathon called life. Running is more than just a healthy activity, it is also a way to train your mental stamina to handle many challenges in life such as creativity block, lack of discipline and more.
I started jogging everyday to remind myself of my destination and my goal. The process of running itself will help clear up your mind and look deep into yourself.







Coming back to the cross-country run I mentioned earlier, I noticed many people were sprinting from the very beginning of the race and lost their steam halfway through the journey. Then notion of sprinting from the beginning is analogous to what teenagers are doing with their life. They have no idea that life is a marathon, and they just take every chance  to fulfill their needs for branded clothes or expensive accessories. These type of people tend to  think the world is gonna end and chose to have fun everyday.


There is another type of people who chose to work very hard on a specific battle such as school exams, assignments or finding for their soul mate. I would like to clarify that these desires are perfectly normal but sometimes people are too obsessed until a certain point where everything else around them is unimportant. They might win the battle with sheer energy, but which direction are they heading when they made those decisions ? Will it affects their career and future lifestyle ? Life is so complicated that each decision are interconnected. Therefore, treat your life like a marathon.

1. Understand where you are going
You have to decide what lifestyle do you want and work backward s from your imagination. having a path or destination will make sure your energy is not wasted and you can always check whether you are on the right track.

2. Manage your energy not time 
In this 21st century, you can no longer manage your time. Instead, like a marathon runner, you can only regulate your energy level and make sure you have the stamina to accomplish all the tasks in the day. What good does extra time do if you do not
know what to do with it or if you're too tired ?