How To Make Your Life Easier With Running

A good run produces all the mental shifts you may want

After a few months break, I started running again. Apart from the obvious physical benefits, I realized that it’s a perfect playground for developing healthy mental habits.

When you run, a positive change in mindset follows naturally. You don’t have to force it. You easily grasp which attitudes serve the run.

Before you notice, you tap into them by default — instead of clinging to limiting mental habits.

The problem with the “change your mindset” advice is that it’s usually vague. Surely, you know it’d be good to be more mindful or stop comparing yourself to others. But how do you actually achieve those things?

It may seem like your brain is designed for rumination, comparison and negativity. That’s partially true — and it used to be a valid survival mechanism in the past. But the negativity bias rarely benefits the modern human.

Fortunately, you can reshape your mind in a way that serves you.

A great way to instil new mental habits is by creating circumstances that reinforce them. Reading about it can inspire you, sure. But it rarely allows you to experience a more beneficial state of mind first-hand.

That’s where running comes in. It can do more than just cause an endorphin rush. It can also shift your thinking into more positive, mindful tracks. You can then bring those mental habits into your daily life with more ease.

Here are four mental shifts running enabled for me. They are making my life easier every day. See if running could do the same for you.

1. Believing in yourself

Do you struggle with self-doubt? Have you ever questioned your ability to do something just because you failed in the past?

A lot of people do that. We have a strong tendency to assess our future based on past accomplishments or failures. This may be one of the most limiting fallacies of the human mind.

A few days ago, I went for a run and accidentally stumbled across a city marathon. People were running 5, 10, 21 or 42k, making laps around the Edinburgh Meadows. The event was open to everyone, so I joined the party.

It was after the first lap that I spotted him: a man running on two crutches and one leg. I mean, he didn’t have the other one. I ran with him for a few minutes and he told me he was doing a half-marathon.

After our chat, this one thought stuck in my mind: I will stop making excuses about why I can’t do this or that.

That man was running 21k even though he was missing a leg. And the reason he could do it was that he believed he could.

After another lap, I was getting tired. My mind was telling me to stop. But I didn’t. I went for one more and completed it without a problem. I had just realized how true this maxim is:

“Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t — you’re right.”

2. Being present in the moment

How many times did you hear that you should be more mindful and present? To stop mind-wandering in the past of the future? To focus on what’s right in front of you?

Mindfulness indeed helps us live with more ease and joy. When you take care of the present moment, you also take care of all the future ones.

But if you ever practised mindfulness, you know how hard it can be. The mind usually does its own thing, constantly making excursions to imaginary places.

When you run, it quickly becomes obvious why being present is so helpful. After a few minutes in, you start getting tired. You experience physical discomfort — and there’s usually a dose of psychological pain attached to it.

There’s no better way to deal with this pain than to accept it. To keep your attention on how your body feels right now. As soon as you try to distract yourself, you turn the discomfort into unnecessary suffering.

When I run and my mind departs the present, it usually goes into the future. How far do I still need to go? Am I going to make it? I’ll probably be exhausted by the end of the run. Maybe I should start walking now to save energy for later.

This kind of projection breeds unnecessary anxiety about what’s to come. But it also keeps me from optimizing my breath and pace right now.

As a result, I may indeed fall out of balance and exhaust myself. But it won’t be because the challenge was too hard. It’s because I didn’t pay attention to the moment. Hence, my response was less than optimal — for example, I ran too fast uphill or breathed too shallow.

Only when I keep my attention on my breath and body in the present, I can take care of myself during the run. As this becomes obvious, I naturally gravitate towards mindfulness.

3. Honouring your pace

Running helped me realize the importance of tackling challenges one step at a time. This means honouring my pace and moving according to what effort I can exert now — not what I think I should be able to do.

I struggle with than a lot in my writing. I constantly think that I should be a better and more popular writer by now. Allowing myself to take it easy doesn’t come naturally.

But with running? You can only push yourself so much within one workout. If I haven’t been running for months, there’s no way I’m going to do 10k right off the bat. That’s just not the way it works.

To progress in running, there’s no other way than do it one step at a time. The growth doesn’t come from how much you can push yourself within one run. It comes from how consistent you are with those runs. No matter how short or slow they may initially be.

Running has made me humbler. It made me realize that if I want to grow, I need to earn it. But “earning it” doesn’t mean pushing my boundaries to the max. Quite the opposite: it means honouring my pace so that I can maintain it for the long haul.

The enjoyment must be sourced not from achievements, but from putting one foot in front of the other. This is about embracing and enjoying the process.

Only by doing that can you train to run 10, 20 or 40k without harming yourself.

4. Quitting comparisons

A natural consequence of running is that you stop comparing yourself to others. You quickly realize that it’s useless to measure yourself against someone else’s standards.

The example of the man running on crutches is the clearest one. It would be ridiculous to compare myself with him or vice versa. Our conditions are just too different.

But it’s not always so evident in daily life. We fail to see how different people are equipped to deal with challenges.

For example, if you wanted to start a business, you may compare yourself to an entrepreneur who’s already “made it.” But, you wouldn’t be fully aware of how their situation differs from yours.

Have they started training for this race earlier than you? Do they have a supportive bunch of friends cheering them at every lap? Or maybe they have some specific traits that help them succeed long-term?

Countless factors are influencing their journey, as well as yours.

The difference is, you’re aware of how you ended up where you currently are. But you can’t say this about other runners. You can’t fully explain why they are in front of or behind you. And ultimately, there’s no need to explain it.

It benefits you to focus on completing your personal race, at the pace that suits you. Comparing yourself to others is a distraction.

Running makes you realize that you’re only really competing with yourself. And when it’s just you, the race isn’t about breaking records or proving anything to anyone.

If you care about the run, your mindset naturally changes to support you. It clears and focuses on the present moment. It opens to the possibility of achieving more than you thought you could. It honours your unique pace and stops wasting energy on comparisons.

Then, your mind remembers those qualities when you’re going about your daily life. You tune in to them more naturally, remembering how helpful they were in running.

All you need to experience them is to put on your shoes and go outside. Start by taking only one step at a time. Then, follow it with one more, and the next — until you discover how running can alter your mindset.