Run Your Own Race

Last night, my husband and I went out to see the movie Secretariat, about a housewife who after her father's death tries to keep the family's horse ranch after a promising young foal is born.

At the birth of the horse, the father tells his daughter to run her race and let the horse run his. I have thought about that a lot today, and just wonder how much am I running my own race, and do I interfere with someone else running theirs.  

It is difficult enough to run my own race, with fears of failure, keeping motivated and focused—without trying to focus on someone else's.  So today, I want to be able to run my own race, and live out my own dreams so that in the end, there is no regret.

I think so many times that our lives are complicated by losing track of the race we are called to run and focusing on someone else's race.  When I do that, it just throws me off focus from what I should be doing, and frustrates others when we meddle and try to tell them how they should be living their life.

For years, I ran the race that others thought I should run, and in the end, it left me frustrated, and feeling like I could not measure up.  The truth is that it was not that I was unhappy because I was not good enough, but that I was not doing what I was meant to do.

I think I did this because I did not want the responsibility of taking the blame if I failed to win the race that I was called to run.  If I was following someone else's orders, then my failure would be their fault in a sense and not necessarily my own.  To be honest, thatkind of thinking is pretty childish.  

This year, I am planning to live this year running my own race.  I am going to do what I need to do for me, and stay out of everyone else's race and focus on my own.

At the end of the movie, right before the final Triple Crown Race, the daughter tells the horse that she has already run her race, because she took a chance and followed her dream and ran her race and tells the horse to run his race.  That is so true!  If we take those chances and follow our dreams, then we have won, because we will live a life without regret and wondering what might have happened.

This year will be full of chances and challenges--just like every other year.  Make sure that you run your race!

Jennifer Meyers (C) 2010