The Myth of Perfection: If You Want to Live, You Have to Grow

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Before last January, I haven’t run more than about 12 feet since I was about 12 years old.  Running is a hard thing to do for me- you have to sweat for one.  Of course, I don’t sweat, rather I glow.  My glowing is really wet and stinky though. 

An artist’s rendition of me sweating…

I have always been a big fan of walking though, and one day after Thanksgiving I ended up walking about 12 miles, for no other reason than I had enough time off to walk 12 miles.  Having done that, a friend of mine told me that I should learn how to run, and train for the Columbus half marathon in April of last year.

PREPOSTEROUS I thought.  Me?  A Runner?  I have a hard enough time walking without falling off of the sidewalk, let alone trying to do that quickly, in a city, surrounded by 10,000 strangers.  I scoffed at the idea, but eventually acquiessed, and began to train for the marathon.

Falling off of the sidewalk

I started by walking fast, then faster, and even ran about 13 feet, a personal record set for me in Mrs. Thomas’ 5th grade gym class, not to be broken until I was nearly 30 years old.  Eventually, that 13 feet turned into a mile, which turned into 2,3,4, and toward the end of my training 12 miles!  I couldn’t believe it!  Every week I would just add a mile to what I had done the week before, so it wasn’t so tedious and mentally challenging which is really what turned me off of running in the first place.

The day of the big race came, and I was psyched!  It was cold and rainy that day, but I was determined to combat the elements and run a good race.  As we began, I ran at an even pace, because I knew that the race was long.  One foot in front of the other.  Sure there was a little tightness in my hamstrings, but I was able to persevere!

I ran the 10k portion of the 13.2 mile race, which works out to roughly half of a half marathon, in about an hour and six minutes- not too shabby for a guy running his first marathon.  Then it happened.

My hamstrings locked up in the 7th mile… and I had to walk.  I was so disappointed in myself!  I had done all this training for months and months, and I had to walk!!!!  So I walked the 7th mile, waiting for my hamstrings to loosen up.

After a little while, I began to jog again, and even pick up a little speed, so that I finished in just under 2 and a half hours.  I was so upset at myself.  I was so upset that I didn’t run the perfect race.  I couldn’t see the fact that I had just traveled, by foot, 13 miles.  I don’t even like to drive 13 miles!  I couldn’t see that I had gone from walking to running in a matter of months.  I couldn’t see the other 12 miles that I had run- just that one stinkin’ mile that I had to walk.  3 months of training destroyed by one mile.

Anyone else hear the Superman Theme when they look at this?

We can all be like that I think.  A lot of us anyway.  American culture both chases and loathes perfection.  For some reason the culture has come to expect perfection in its people- if you aren’t perfect, then you aren’t wanted.  So we are told that we need to be perfect.  On the other hand, we love it when so- called celebrities, or polititians fall flat on their face and fail- maybe because it makes us feel a little better about our own imperfections.  I dunno, maybe it is just me who is a perfectionist.

Perfection in this life is simply impossibile!  At least with a definition of perfection that is common and popular- that is a person with no physical or emotional flaws- a person without any character defects.  No one like that exists- not even Oprah or Dr. Phil!

But “perfection” in another sense is possible.  Trees are perfect in a sense- trees are perfect insofar as they are constantly growing.  If a tree stops growing, it is one step away from dying, or it is already dead.  Trees are perfect as long as they are doing what they are supposed to do, and that is to grow.  It they aren’t growing they are dying.

Trees go through a lot of changes while they grow.  They have to endure the wind and the rain, they need sunlight, they have to lose their leaves, and put down their roots despite the hardness of the soil.  They have to lose bark, and grow new layers.  Growth for a tree can be serious work!

We aren’t really any different.  We have been designed to grow in whatever environment we have been placed in.  If we stop growing, and learning, that means that we are one step away from dying, perhaps spiritually and emotionally, if not physically.  Growing is what we have been made to do. 

Growth for us human beings can be tough though, just like it is for the tree.  It requires us to leave behind places, habits, and even people who may have been important to us at one time.  It means that sometimes there will be growing pains.  It means not being so hard on ourselves for our perceived ”imperfections,” and seeing them as opportunities for growth.

 Sometimes when you look at the rings on the tree you can see that some years had better and faster growth than others- we aren’t different.  There are times in which we will grow quickly, and other times when it doesn’t seem like we are growing at all.

 

It can hurt to grow, but if a tree doesn’t grow it can’t produce fruit because it is dead.  So our growth lets us be something greater than we are now potentially.  I know that I can look back on life and see events that weren’t pleasant, but helped to make me grow into the person I currently am.

So I guess that the word perfection is something of a misunderstood term- it is misunderstood what it means.  The word that we really should be talking about is progress.

In this life, I like to say, perfection equals progress.

Like the tree that is perfect when it does what it is supposed to, namely grow, so we are perfect only when we are growing.

When I think of that marathon last year, and the accomplishments I made in going from not running to running most of a half marathon I am astounded.  If all I focus on is that 7th mile that I had to walk, I am depressed.  Rather, I should look at that 7th mile as an opportunity to grow and become even better and faster- as something to reach for, just like a tree reaches for the sun!

Tags: humor, Life, Motivation, perfection, running