My husband and I have friends who enjoy many of the same activities as we do—golfing, hiking, bike riding. Part of the enjoyment for them is incorporating endurance. Why use a cart when you can walk the golf course? Why not hike the difficult trail rather than the moderate? Why not bike for four hours rather than two?
There is absolutely nothing wrong with this. What I have found, though, is that it is not for me.
When an activity becomes nothing more than endurance, when my focus is simply on finishing it because that’s all I have energy for, then I don’t enjoy it anymore.
I would rather use a golf cart and have energy to focus on my swing and my score. I would rather take the moderate hiking trail and be able to enjoy the nature around me rather than struggle just to get back to the trailhead. I would rather bike for a shorter period of time and enjoy every moment than to focus on nothing but pushing the pedals. (Having said that, there are times when I go for endurance rather than enjoyment. When I exercise, usually using the rowing machine and treadmill, I go for endurance. I don’t like it, but I need to do it for health reasons.)
There is nothing wrong with our friends enjoying activities for the endurance aspect. And, there is nothing wrong with me not enjoying activities when they become nothing but endurance. (My husband is somewhere in the middle.)
This can be true in other aspects of life besides recreational activities. Do feel sometimes that your career, your life, is an endurance race? That you have to keep going faster and doing more just to make it across the “finish line?” If so, and you enjoy it, then that’s great. If you don’t enjoy it, that’s great, too. And it’s okay to find a way to slow down and enjoy what you do, to enjoy your life.
We all have to determine what we enjoy. Maybe endurance is part of it. Maybe it’s not. Both are fine. Find a way to do what you enjoy.
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