A few years ago I started to run again after a 2 year long battle with foot issues...including two surgeries, several stress fractures, and a kneel on scooter that became a member of my family.

I've been a runner since high school.

Not a competition runner...just a runner who averages around an 11 min mile.

I love to run. It centers me. I get my best ideas on my runs.

In fact, this email was crafted this morning on my run.

When I began the journey back to being a runner, it was rough.

I was constantly comparing my progress to what I was able to do before surgery.

Running a mile was exhausting.

And the soundtrack on my runs often sounded like this... "you should be able to go farther", "you just need to work harder", "this should be easier", "if you were thinner", "it won't count if you stop and walk"....

I was spending so much time judging myself and thinking about where I should be vs. where I was.

One afternoon I decided to go to a new trail.

It was packed with people running and biking.

I was focused on the people ahead of me thinking that I should be able to run as fast as them.

I was also focused on the runners coming toward me knowing that they were thinking that I was too fat, too slow, too out of shape to be a runner.

It was a constant struggle for me to keep going because I was exhausting myself with my thoughts about how much better I should be.

On the drive home from that run, I realized that the reason I thought others were judging me was because I was judging me...and I could just as easily believe that the people running toward me were thinking how awesome we all are for being outside pounding the pavement and cheering me on as they passed.

And the more I believed that they were cheering me on, the more I thought about cheering them on, and then...the more I thought about cheering myself on.

So that's what I did.

It suddenly didn't matter how fast or slow I was going. When I focused on just being out there, enjoying where I was...not where I had been AND not where I was going...everything became easier and I ran.

For the first time since surgery, I had run 3 miles. Just days before, on that new trail, I struggled to get to 1.

The only thing that changed were my beliefs about myself and other around me.

That's it.

Instant results.

It's always about what you are choosing to spend your time thinking and believing...and sometimes, it only takes one thought to change for everything to click.

If you are spending time thinking that other people are judging you and your art...ask yourself what you are believing about you and your art right now.

If you are waiting for people to like your posts for you to believe that you are doing a good job and making good art, you are slowing yourself down and creating all sorts of resistance for yourself.

It's your job to believe in yourself and your art...not the people around you. 

It all becomes way easier and way more fun once you practice that.

Happy Friday!

Teresa