Part 1: Things You Think You Can't Do- Like Run

This morning was a great morning for me. I finally hit the rumored "runner's high" that I was coming to believe did not exist. Until today, the farthest I had ever run without stopping was 4.5 miles, and this morning I ran 6, and I could have easily kept going.

Now if I were to have read this on someone's blog a year ago before I started running, it would have made me sick! Seriously who runs? And who has time to run?

I thought all these things and more before I started running. Last March I was introduced to a program called Couch to 5K. I was having a lot of trouble getting back into an exercise routine even a year after having my 2nd baby. With Couch to 5K, you only have to commit to 30 minutes, 3 days a week. I thought I'd try it. The great thing is, it works! After only 2 months of the program, I could go out at any time and run 3 miles. And for the record, before I started Couch to 5K, I never ran! Never! Not in high school or college, not even occasionally at the gym. I despised running!

One of my faults is that once I start something, I either have to go all in or not even bother. Absolute success or absolute failure. There is no middle ground for me.

When I started considering trying to run, there were a million reasons I told myself that I couldn't. Here are just a few:

• You've never been a runner.
• You don't like to run.
• You hardly have time to shower. Why do you think you'll have time to run?
• You're not strong enough. 
• You can't really run a 5K. That's ridiculous.

These are all the things that went through my mind; all the reasons I though I couldn't do it. But I knew there was something missing in my life. I wasn't happy with my body and therefore not very interested in fulfilling my wifely duties; I was constantly worried about my kids; I felt overwhelming pressure about my how people viewed me as a Scentsy SuperStar Director; and the list goes on and on. There was definitely something missing. Being a dancer in high school and college, fitness was a huge part of my life, and all of a sudden, that was gone.

So I slowly started. And by slowly, I mean slowly. The great thing about Couch to 5K is that the first time you go out, I think you run a total of 6 minutes out of the 30 you're on the road. It's fabulous!

I felt empowered, energized, and free. Now, just a year later, I feel like I've actually arrived as a runner. I find peace, solitude, prayer, and my own sanity when I'm out on the road. No, I don't have time to do it, but I've made the time. I get up 3 days a week at 6:00 am to go out for at least an hour.

The crazy thing about the things we think we can't do is that the things we usually think we can't do are the things that we have the most potential to be truly successful at.

There are 3 things that I originally thought I could never do, that I am doing now and doing fairly well (in my opinion):
1. running a business
2. being a spiritual leader
3. being a distance runner

There were reasons I thought I couldn't do each of them to begin with, but sometimes our greatest potential comes from our greatest fear.

What do you fear? What are you preventing yourself from being great at? The things that you are supposed to be great at should scare the heck out of you. Really. Whatever you're fearful of, is where you have a true potential to shine.

Take a leap of faith, and do the things you think you can't do. You'll be surprised at where you'll go, who you'll meet, and what your life will look like afterward.

Do the things you think you can't do...