The Breaking Point

“…how many times can I break ‘til I shatter?”

I’ve been there, and back again. Every muscle in my lower torso is screaming at me, asking what the heck I am doing to myself. My hamstrings are extremely tight, my knees and shins are sore, and my feet feel strained – making it painful to walk. I feel like I have been broken into a million pieces, and yet each day, I continue to push despite the pain, hoping to go just a little bit farther than I did before. It must be the masochist in me.

You see, everyone reaches their breaking point – physically, mentally, emotionally… and sometimes all three at once. How that is dealt with is a matter of preference. From my experience, there are typically two options available. For some, the best way to rise above is to escape and bail as fast as you can. This method has worked for me sometimes, but usually as only a temporary solution. At one point or another, we almost always have to accept our breaking point. Lately, I find myself doing just that and pushing myself even harder, constantly trying to justify how much worse things can be. When I do this, the pain I felt the day before feels a little less. Then, I continue on in this way, until a particular goal has been met, a feat accomplished, a relationship formed. It’s dealing with your breaking point head on – confronting it – and refusing to let it conquer you until you have fully conquered it. And that, is victory.