“Be tolerant with others and strict with yourself.”

As we reach the end of the second lockdown here in the UK, I’ve most definitely struggled over the last couple of weeks to come up with ideas for these weekly writing sessions. I’m not entirely sure why it is that I’ve struggled, I normally have at least an idea or the base of an idea bouncing around my head in the days before I sit down to write but for the last few weeks there’s been nothing.

Sitting here and racking my brain for a topic, I’ve been thinking about the week I’ve had and things I’ve done and then I saw a quote as I flicked through my instagram and the base for today’s topic appeared.

Throughout both lockdowns I’ve struggled with consistency when it comes to exercise. Before all of this happened in 2020, I had a really good routine when it came to the gym, however since the pandemic I’ve been very hit and miss. Over the last 2–3 weeks though I’ve gotten into a really good rountine when it comes to running and running regularly.

Marcus Aurelius said…

“Be tolerant with others and strict with yourself.”

Reading this it got me thinking about my little exercise routine. I’ve got people I can run with, people who say that they’re going to start, people who always want to organise a run but never do, the list goes on. However, at the end of the day when it comes to getting a run in, all that matters really is that I show up and get the run done. Whether friends turn up or not doesn’t really affect my run. I can be tolerant and lenient with them, but when it comes to myself I have to be strict. I have goals when it comes to running but my friend not turning up isn’t going to get me closer to my goal, only I can do that.

I suppose it also goes for a lot of things in life, show tolerance to others and be strict with yourself.

It really just comes down to focusing on what you can control at the end of the day. You can’t control other people and their actions so be tolerant with them. However, when it comes to yourself, you control everything therefore you must be strict with yourself.

Make that focus internal and life becomes easier. There is too much wasted energy focusing on what others are doing and becoming annoyed by it. Spend that energy on yourself.

See you next week.