Ultra Post 2 Embrace the Struggle

The Story of the Moth

I read this story recently and thought I’d share it as it is so pertinent to ultra running, sport and life in general.

The story goes like this:

A man came upon the cocoon of moth. He took the cocoon home with him so that he could watch the moth emerge from the cocoon. One day he noticed a small opening in the cocoon, and could see after several hours the moth struggling to get out. The moth stopped it’s struggle. The man became concerned and wanted to help the moth, so he gently cut the cocoon and out emerged the moth. He waited, but the moth could not spread it’s wings, it appeared enlarged with fluid. The moth lived its days without flying. It had needed to struggle out of the cocoon to force the fluid to its wings, so they could spread and it could fly.

Embrace the struggle. Lean into it. You are going to get uncomfortable training and racing both physically and emotionally. Move towards it, learn from it, note it. Avoiding and escaping the feelings don’t help you to embrace long term goals and missions, they are part of it.