I never thought of myself as athletic before, but it turns out I am. Who knew? All this time I’ve been taking myself up and out in the morning to go to the local mountain to hike up and back down, the word athlete never entered my brain.  I hike nearly every day. Rain, sleet, ice, hail,  even in the ice storm of the century a girlfriend and I were out blazing the trail. I hike at night, in the dark and in my dreams. I run when I’m not hiking because I really, really like to move my body each and every day. But, until today, I didn’t call myself an athlete. “Anyone can hike,” I would say. “Anyone, can run.”

My husband says I have a unique ability to take what I’m good at and minimize it. I write for a living. I’ve won awards for my writing. “So what,” I say, “anyone can write.” Just like anyone can hike or run. But here is the difference…

NOT EVERYONE DOES!!!

I’m a slow learner, but honestly, until today, I didn’t know that I was successful simply for trying. So, what’s the point of this? The point is that we all need to take credit for that which we do. Whether I’m at my ideal weight or not, I’m allowed to feel successful in my running, my hiking. Whether a published author and a rock star or not I am allowed to enjoy and revel in my writing. It’s probably even okay to brag a bit here and there. As I was out clocking my training 5K this a.m. I couldn’t wait to come back and tell someone about my success. 36 minutes!! My first instinct was to say on flat land (this is the self deprecating part), but why does it matter? The fact is, I ran a 5K in 36 minutes. So what if the terrain was flat. So what if I walked part of it. The bottom line is I crossed the finish line in 36 minutes!!! Somewhere along the way, I forgot to congratulate me, and I felt unsuccessful because it was done on flat land. So silly!

I need people. I need support. I need motivation. I’m working on finding it intrinsically, but in the meantime I’m so glad I’ve found all of you. I think of you all as rock stars. I read your blogs, comment, share your journeys and celebrate your accomplishments. Now, for me, for my family and for my future, it’s time to celebrate some of my own. So I say, for the record…

I am an athlete, and I am successful !

How many of you struggle with giving yourself credit? Where does this come from? What do you do to change it??