The Lessons of Life from Jogging

Recently, I took up jogging again around McRithchie. For the non-Singaporeans this is water reservoir surrounded by rugged tracks mainly through a secondary jungle.

First of all it, struck me that this is one of the few places in Singapore where for most of the time you see nature only and hear no traffic noise. Very relaxing.

Jogging (power walking is equally good) is an automatic skill i.e. no thinking is required. You will find your mind is free and wanders. Unfinished thoughts are coming up and you can deal with them. Great ideas are coming up. I am pretty confident to say that more creative ideas are coming up whilst jogging compared to a brain storming session at work. That was my first insight. Here are a few more.

Whilst jogging, I equate the finish line with the long-term goal and every step with the task on hand that has be done now.

Because of the numerous roots and stones making the jog rather uneven I have to focus most of the time on every step I take. Like in life, most of the time you are best advised to fully focus on what you are doing right now.

Sometimes, I feel like the finishing line is dauntingly very far away, somewhat disheartening. Then I chose to focus on my feet again and just take it step by step. Like in life, step by step into the right direction and you will arrive.

If the path is a bit easier, or I feel stronger, I like to look up, enjoy the scenery and look for the finish line in the distance. Like in life. Enjoy the journey; keep the long-term goal in mind.

I had this great idea to go for a better time and thought if I just use my momentum when running downhill that will do the trick. Well it didn’t, I stumbled over a root and fell flat on my face bleeding all over my left side. Anyway, when you are in the middle of the jungle there is no choice, just had to pick myself up and keep on going! The thought crossed my mind to blame the government for not making an even jogging path. A little joke, sorry. Or maybe not a joke. How often do we blame others for ‘our fall’? Of course, it was me who took the risk so I need to take the blame. Like in life, sometimes we need to take risks to achieve something. If we succeed, we rightfully want all the credit, which means, if we fail, we need to take all the blame as well.

At times I feel that I stumble more than jogging. These are signs of tiredness. Then I slow down and walk for a while. Falls are painful and to be avoided. Like in life. Push yourself but don’t overlook the signs of exhaustion. There are times when we need to recharge a bit before going on.

My time for the 11km is 75 minutes. ‘Not very fast’, many joggers would say so. They are correct. But it doesn’t matter. Since I have started, I improved from 90 minutes to 75 minutes now. That’s important. Keep on improving, and keep on improving. Life will teach us how far we can go. Most of the time farther than we thought