Today, I completed a milestone: 100 days of running. I am so excited and proud and feeling good this morning.

I had a few health issues and decided to take up running. I was also finding myself very stressed from whatever was happening last year and was having a really hard time shaking the negativity. I couldn't get myself in good mood, even when I was doing work (usually my creativity puts me in a good headspace). I figured that my health issues were stress-related and wanted to do a little experiment to see if it would help.

I decided to not make it about weight loss, so I refusedl to check a scale. I also decided to ignore my timing. I didn't want to obsess about any numbers, other than the days. I just wanted the running to become a part of my daily routine.

To make a long story short, I spoke to my doctor yesterday and my health issues have been resolved. I asked if might have had anything to do with the running, and she said, "in my professional opinion, yes." That was music to my ears.

Why has running become so important? Well, a lot of things have been inspired by it lately, especially this Year of Earrings challenge. I felt like if I could prove to myself that just going at something steadily, you could reach your goals and still be excited to keep going. It's coincidental that my health issues resolved right when I reached my goal of running 100 days.

I also decided to keep up with this blog because of the running. I've decided to post everyday on social media because of the running. I do Instagram stories every weekday because of the running. It has taught me about the importance of consistency.

There are mornings that I'm sore, kind of tired, maybe the weather isn't perfect, but I do push myself to do it everyday now. When I first started, I took a lot of days off in between runs. What started to motivate me was keeping a calendar and drawing an X on the date after each run. It was the visual representation of my slowly chipping away at a goal that made me more ambitious to achieve it.

My next goal is to get to 200 days. I think by just adding 100 days each time will be a good way of continuing. It's so easy to achieve something and then just let it all go, do you have that same problem? Or maybe, I'll achieve it and then do something completely different. That happens all the time with me and my jewelry. Besides trying to maintain my health, I wanted the running to become a way of developing habits, or as a way of teaching myself to stick to it.

When I get frustrated with something, or finish the goal, or the outcome isn't what I expected, then I tend to give up and do something entirely different. It's been a never-ending cycle, and the pandemic didn't make it better. I have struggled to keep a routine and to stay on track.

It was also becoming a problem especially with markets. When you apply for markets, you might get into a third of the ones you apply for and you never really know until maybe a month in advance. It's extremely controlling of your life, and I was getting so annoyed because I felt like I couldn't be steady, or create a routine, or establish good habits. My life felt like it was a circus.

Running has really helped to clarify some of these thoughts and ideas, and inspired me in so many ways. What do you do to stay motivated and inspired through tough times?

Thanks so much for reading and take care,

Caitlin

The earrings below will become available for the upcoming Earring Drop which will happen

June 25th at 7am MST.