Humbleness vs. self degrading

Posted on March 2, 2015

Over the past two months I have been working hard to work up to running a 5K. I wasn't able to run a full 5K by the time the race I registered came around. However, I was able to get my time down to 44 mins. I worked hard for this, even with physical challenges and time constraints.

Here's a little back information:

1. I'm a full time student in my senior year of college. I'm doing school work 30 to 40 hours a week.

2. I work approximately 30 hours a week (give or take).

3. I have a lower back injury, hyper mobile knee caps (Basically my knee caps move around too much, or more than normal) - which cases knee pain and can assist with shin splints. And I have plantar fasciitis. My foot doctor told me I'd never be a runner.

4. I have asthma

5. The week before the race I came down with a cold.

Despite all these factors, I still managed to get my race time down to a 14 min. a mile pace. I completed the Seattle Hot Chocolate 5K in 44 minutes and 10 seconds! I had moments when I could barely breathe! I felt very accomplished by the end of my race! I felt as if I kept the promise I had made to myself and worked hard for.

After the race however is the biggest problem! When people asked me about the race, I told people that I was in the slow "corral", or how I was in the last group of runners to go because I was slow. I told people that I ONLY did the 5K and spoke in a tone that didn't indicate how I really felt about myself and the race. Why was I talking poorly about my accomplishment? Was I trying to be humble? Or was I just deminishing my accomplishements? Why is it so hard to say "Yea! I'm awesome and I did something awesome!"

I find that I talk down about myself to others often. I down grade my accomplishements. I don't brag about the things I worked hard for.

I think I'm on the right track to changing this behavior since I am noticing the behavior. But I think all of us on a weight loss journey can relate to the idea of saying "Oh, I've only lost 5lbs!" - uh you lost 5lbs! That's great!

My new promise to myself is to be better to myself! To stop talking poorly about myself and down grading my accomplishments.

Comment Now!

Travis

03/03/2015 8:55AM

Rock on! Celebrate it! Soak in the accomplishment! We can be humble and positive at the same time. Great job Bri keep up the good work, Thanks for sharing and motivating me to continue working on my runs. /high-five

Sally B

03/02/2015 8:12PM

Many of us can relate to the negative talk. I'm working on thinking like a person who sees things from the glass half full rather than half empty. You finished your 5k!!!! That's fantastic,!! Most people wouldn't even consider doing a 5k, not even for chocolate at the race end. I have had a goal of running an entire 5k since 2009. I've done about 15 5ks since then, but have never come close to running the entire 5K. I run a bit and walk a bit, and I usually finish about middle of the pack. and have improved my time a bit since my first 5k in 2009 and met a log of nice people. I still have the goal of running a whole 5k, but in the meantime, Im enjoying the journey. My first 5k is April 18. I did my first prep wog (walk/jog combo) Sunday. Thanks for reminding me to focus on the positives.

Carolyn Mabe

03/02/2015 5:48PM

Bri that is such a huge accomplishment & congratulations . I'm also learning to self love & it's become a priority too ; because this can be the barrier of a permanent lifestyle change .

Pam

03/02/2015 4:55PM

I can so relate to this. Yes we must enjoy are minutes and shout how happy we are for what we accomplished. I so need to make working on this a priority

JeannieBee61

03/02/2015 3:53PM

Too often we beat ourselves up because of prior "training" or familial conditioning that we are NEVER good enough and we learn the habits you mentioned above. It takes training yourself to remember to be kind to your best friend--you. If I friend myself saying derogatory things, I try to immediately change it to a positive--or that "I" am not stupid, but maybe the thing that I did wasn't the best decision.

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