The Hardest Two Minutes Of My Life

The hardest two minutes of my life happened about a year and a month ago when I bought a cheap treadmill and started running on it every day. Back then, my goal was to lose weight and get into shape. I was always overweight and being an adult, you can’t afford to stick to that lifestyle. You could, but you’d be miserable and kill your true potential just because chips prime over health and fitness.

I never actually thought I’d transform running, daily running, into my favourite habit. But I did because I started seeing the benefits of running every day for even half an hour. I started feeling better, stronger, calmer and my mind was becoming clearer by the day. Physically, I started losing weight and was able to stick to a healthy loss in over a year now.

So far, I’ve put in about 1.560 kilometres of running. My average was about 70 kilometres per month in my first 3-4 months. I then raised that to about 100, then moved to my 130-140 per month back in last fall, and am now steady at 100-120 kilometres per month. Which is a healthy and manageable distance to run in a month for your average middle-level runner.

The hardest part

You might think running that much and that consistent is hard. And it is. It’s actually painful sometimes. You get hurt a lot. Sometimes you fall off the treadmill because there’s a power outage. You twist your feet and spray your ankles and still have to run because, you know, you’ve taught your mind about your schedule. And now you have to do your run.

But you know what the hardest part of this entire 13-month, 1.560 kilometres, -25kg journey was? Those first two minutes before I’ve decided to start. Those 120 seconds in which all of my insecurities, doubts, past failures and uncertainty struck me. I was there, about to press “Buy now” on a treadmill, an apparatus I was simply unfamiliar with. An unthinkable new purchase.

In those two minutes, your life’s on the line and you are the one who is responsible to change it or leave it as is. If you decide to change it, you are in for a hard ride, but the hardest part is that, the decision to change. The benevolent wanting and then doing of what you have to do. As soon as you sign that mental contract with yourself, the hard part is already done.

The two minutes before

Nowadays, the treadmill is still working well for its price. I’m going to be changing it with a new, middle-level one soon. I’m starting a home gym and office project with my dad and as soon as that’s over, I’ll invest into a good treadmill and also some lifting gear. Time to tone this chest up! Coming back, those two minutes, the hardest of my life, are still there every time I run.

Every single time before a run, there’s that voice in my head telling me I’m wasting my time. That I should just sit on the couch and catch up on some Walking Dead. Working more and making more money instead of running on a treadmill that goes nowhere. Doing anything else but running. 13 months in. Still, when I get on the treadmill and run, I’m winning.

My point is, taking that decision and surpassing those first two minutes before it, the hardest two minutes of your life, is not going to be a one-time thing. You’ll have those two minutes happening way more often than you’d think. And it goes for whatever you do in life, whether it’s business or personal life. Those two minutes of life-changing action are going to be there.

A thing to remember

The trick is practice, patience and consistency. Whenever those two minutes come up in your day, remember to be patient with your thoughts and let them go. Then, remember that practice is what got you here, in this point that would’ve never happened if it weren’t for that first decision. Finally, keep in mind the importance of consistency and not giving up regardless.

If you’re getting ready to take on a decision that’s going to affect your life in years from now on, you’re about to have the most difficult two minutes of your life. And then you’re in for an infinite set of two minutes of overcoming your thoughts whenever you have to keep doing what you have to do to reach your goal. It’s hard, but the hardest part ends as soon as you start.

As soon as you’ve overcome those two minutes of self-doubt, you’re a winner. Even if your run is a mess, even if you’re running for just one mile and do it in 15 minutes, you are still a winner. Better, stronger, more confident, impossible to be taken down. Because you’ve overcome yourself, who is the hardest person to overcome in the entire world.

And you’ve done it in just two minutes.

Hi! My name is Gabriel, nice to meet you.

I run Gabriel Iosa Writing Services, my online dream business that’s now 4 years in the making. I’ve also worked as a journalist for 9 years and counting. My job is to come up with the best content for you regardless if it’s for your blog, website, book, social media posts or anything else.

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