Is It All In Your Head?
“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?” ― J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Having my son home for a month between college and his summer music festival was a whirlwind, as always. While he was here he stole my pillow, caused us to run the dishwasher twice a day, drank an entire carton of oatmilk every two days, and used up all my laundry detergent. Let’s not even talk about car insurance. And once again he completely derailed my reading agenda. Last summer he convinced me to reread all of Harry Potter, and this time he got out our old Calvin and Hobbes books. When he was little, we read Calvin and Hobbes together all the time. In retrospect, it was kind of an odd choice- why was I reading Calvin and Hobbes to my three-year-old? Now he says these books shaped his sense of humor, and he wanted to revisit them. I decided to “just look through” the first book, and I got hooked. Every time I try to take out my serious, adult novel, I end up reading Calvin and Hobbes, while literally laughing out loud. In case anyone has never read these, the premise is that Calvin, a six-year-old boy, has a tiger for a best friend. To everyone else, Hobbes looks like a stuffed animal. But when it’s just Calvin and Hobbes, they have all sorts of hilarious adventures together. My son and I had so much fun discussing these cartoons again- “Remember when they drive the car into the ditch? Remember the snowman house of horrors?” And then my son asked the deep, philosophical question: “Is Hobbes real?” Of COURSE Hobbes is real. Depending, of course, on who’s experiencing him. This conversation took place at the dinner table, and my poor husband and daughter couldn’t understand what we were talking about. When I invoked the wisdom of Albus Dumbledore (see above quote) they literally begged us to change the subject. Around here, if you haven’t read Harry Potter or Calvin and Hobbes, you really have no idea what’s going on. What does all this have to do with running? WELL! Glad you asked. On Sunday I ran ten miles. Not an extremely long run, but long enough to experience some Florida heat. While I ran I listened to this podcast about a 50 mile race through the neighborhoods of Miami. Since it takes place in June, it was obviously hot AF. The top female finishers talked about digestive distress, muscle cramps, and dehydration. They had moments in the race where they thought they couldn’t go on, but ultimately overcame those thoughts to finish strong. The main thing, they agreed, is “It’s all in your head.” Obviously muscle cramps and dehydration are real. But the belief that you can’t continue to run is only real if you allow it to be. In a couple of my recent workouts, I found myself thinking that I needed to stop- so I did. But afterwards I was disappointed in myself. I wasn’t collapsing onto the ground, so obviously I had more in the tank. Knowing how powerful thoughts are, when I did my speed work last week I replaced the “I can’t do this” thoughts with “I’m strong, I’m good at this, and I can do it.” And, yes- I did it. Are thoughts real? 100%. Can you change your reality by changing your thoughts? 100%. Is it all in your head? Of course it is- but that doesn’t mean it’s not real. I’m linking up with Kim and Zenaida for their Tuesday Topics! Have you ever let your thoughts defeat you in a long run or race? Or, have you managed to turn around a bad situation by changing your thoughts? Is Hobbes real?