Running isn’t for everyone. It’s definitely not for me.
But I’ve been thinking about whether everyone needs something *like* running. The thing you do alone, repeatedly, without immediate reward. The thing that requires you to show up even when you don’t feel like it.
For runners, the discipline comes from building a reliable relationship with yourself. You learn what you’re like when no one’s watching. That’s harder to find than it sounds. Most of what we do is reactive or performance-oriented. Even our leisure tends to be optimized for stimulation.
So what qualifies? Probably something near-daily, done alone. Something with enough resistance to make you want to quit, and enough simplicity that quitting is a choice.
Murakami runs every single day when he’s writing a novel. He says the repetition itself is the point. That it’s a form of mesmerism.
Writing does it for some people. Others pray. I walk with loud music sometimes. I take long hot showers. These quiet my mind, but I wouldn’t call them a discipline. I pray three times a day, which should qualify, but more often than not the intent isn’t really there. I’m not sure what fits the bill for me but going through the motions is not the same thing.
What’s yours?
