The Secret to Happiness

There is something fundamental about sports like running, cycling, swimming, rowing, that make them different from sports like basketball or soccer. It’s hard to say what that is exactly, but I think it has to do with the fact that it really tests how hard you can, or want, to push yourself. As a result, those sports really teach you a lot.

The legendary University of Oregon running coach Bill Bowerman once told his athletes:

“Running, one might say, is an absurd pastime upon which to be exhausting ourselves. But if you can find meaning in the kind of running required of you to stay on this team, perhaps you’ll find meaning in another absurd pastime: life.”

I have been running for the past eight years, which makes it the single activity in my life that I have been doing for the longest time. Through those eight years I have learned countless important lessons, one of the more important ones is brought up in John L. Parker’s epic novel Once A Runner.

The protagonist, Quenton Cassidy, is a collegiate track athlete training for the Olympics. Being the stud athlete he is, everybody asks him questions about what he eats, whether he believes in stretching, what his resting heart rate was, how many hours of sleep he got, and so on. Cassidy’s answer to all this mess is simple:

“The secret is this: there is no secret.”

He goes on to explain it is about simple hard work, and running countless miles. That’s the great thing about running. Surely, good genes can help, but being good at long distance running is largely about running those painful extra miles.

I think the lesson here is an important one. When thinking about change and improving one’s life, the tendency is to look at the quick fixes and tricks that other people apply, here are some of the most common ones I’ve come across:

Tired of your environment? Move!
Sick of your job? Get new one!
Tired of your exercise routine? Try yoga!
Bored of your hobbies? Learn a musical instrument!
Confused about your life? Write about it!

I have taken up all these trick changes, hoping for a quick fix, which some of them have definitely provided. But at the same time, these quick fixes only last for so long. The hard truth is, there is no secret trick to improving your life. It just comes down to picking one or a few things you like and keep doing them, whether it’s running everyday, making an effort to be social, or working in your garden every weekend.

This past week was pretty hectic, at the end of it I felt like giving up and scrapping a lot of my life projects - quitting my volunteer work, giving up training for the Portland Marathon, and so on. I’m not sure what exactly reminded me, but something brought me back and gave me the fuel to keep pushing through all the crap.

I think, sometimes, you just have to love that feeling of being helpless and being completely overwhelmed. There are undoubtedly going to be times when you are that overwhelmed, and that’s certainly part of the deal of life, so you might as well love it. Or something like that?

from ken

Are you trying to change your life? I'd love to hear about it! ken.e.noguchi@gmail.com

photo by MartynvanDeelen