History

There's a saying that someone is crazy when they try to solve a problem the same way, each time expecting different results. We live in a world where we are suppose to learn from our mistakes. The best way to ensure history does not repeat itself is to learn from the mistakes we've made in the past. I've made plenty of mistakes in the past, we all have. The key is taking the mistakes we have made and turning them into a learning experience.

I ran the most miserable race of my life, on the biggest day of my life. When I toed the line for the NYS Cross-Country championships I did not know what I was going to do. You see the whole season I had trained for one thing: to make states. What I never thought of was what happens once I do that? I had set my goals and accomplished my goals. Therefore, I was toeing the line without any sense of what I was running for anymore. Yes, I wanted to perform well, but I wasn't half as prepared as I was the races leading to that moment.

Flash forward 4 years. After an eerily similar college running career, I find myself in a similar situation. Similar, but not the same. You see I had a goal this whole season and I was blessed enough to have accomplished that goal. This time around however, my goal had two parts. I planned ahead. I assumed that I would accomplish my first goal and focused solely on the second. When my first goal was in jeopardy, I stepped up to the challenge. Now however, there is no more looking back on that goal. I am here. It is now time to step up again. This time it is to take care of the second goal I have set for myself.

In life, we will always be setting goals. However, we fail to think about what happens once they are accomplished. We should always have multiple goals in our lives. We should always be striving for something. One belief I live by is that when a great accomplishment happens, relish in the moment, but then understand that there are many moments to come. When I was younger, I did not understand this concept. I relished in the one accomplishment I had achieved. I neglected to see that there were more accomplishments around the corner. I just needed to be ready.

Then I was not ready.

Now, I am.

Will you be ready?