why commitment matters
When I was in college, I did an internship for a wonderful and genius non-profit organization named Back On My Feet. Their approach for eradicating homelessness is to empower the homeless population through running.
If it seems like a wild proposal, maybe that is because it is.
But it works.
When people are at a loss for purpose, shelter, anything that grounds and anchors the body and soul, they need to recharge from the inside-out. One very powerful way to do recharge your confidence to show yourself that you can do it.
The it you show yourself you can do could be a number of things, but it is even better when you choose something you must physically show up for (in my experience).
The homeless recruits needed to show up with 90% attendance for a full month of thrice weekly, 5:30 am runs. The reward? A graduation to the “next steps” program, where they would receive education and guidance on career selections and resume building. If they showed up there with a certain level of attendance and follow through, they graduated yet again to the next level, where they received assistance setting up job interviews and budget planning. The process climbed the ladder until the runners received enough assistance to pay for their own houses/apartments/shelter of choice.
I met people who were in hallway houses, released from prison, on a pathway to having a job, a salary that would feed themselves and their families, and houses of their own.
I met people who were doing that and training to run the Chicago Marathon.
The metaphysical magic in this process is that they were not “fed fish” as the saying goes, rather taught how to fish. And, in learning how to fish, they committed to showing up and doing the work. And the work was hard, gritty, challenging.
When you go for a long run, as each mile ticks away (at the beginning, as each 100m ticks away), you have to reconnect to why you are running.
These folks were running for their lives. Not away from them, but into them.
That is what commitment really feels like. It is when you are doing something for MORE LIFE, not to run away from life.
So, as you scan yourself for what you are committed to, consider what you are running away from and what you are running into.
Are you running towards a future where you are fulfilled, happy, and free?
Or are you constantly running away from that?
Maybe you are always running in circles?
It takes courage—the courage to stop being who you were and become someone new, to commit to a set of behaviors that will change your life.
Not just saying “yes” in your head.
Not just showing up 60% of the time.
Not just getting the pieces of your life together but integrating the pieces of your inner life—the essence of who you are.
When you commit at least 90% of the time, with full belief in your ability to thrive, with reassurance that you will be rewarded, with earnest output and honest input to transform beyond the destination or the momentary win, you will understand why commitment matters.
Like all great human triumphs, it is something that must be experienced from within.
This is a message from the transformation I committed to last year, and yes, I am still “afraid” of committing to other things, but I know I will look back at this letter a transformed woman and smile quite soon.