My goddaughter is waking up today with a few more aches and pains than usual. We cheered her on last Saturday as she (and 7,000 other runners) ran Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth, MN. It was inspiring to watch so many people persist through obvious discomfort to reach their goal. The race started out with lots of cheering and nervousness, smiles, high spirits and laughter.  At mile five, the runners were already down to business. It was a warm day and the going was already rough, and promised to get much rougher. What motivated these runners to train so hard, to overcome obstacles, to run through the pain and remain focused on their goals – a Grandma’s Marathon t-shirt?  Don’t think so. Something deeper motivated these folks. The deep down feeling of satisfaction – real self esteem – that happens when you really work towards and accomplish your goal is a better bet. When they cross that finish line, each person has a new hard won identity tag. They can now say “I’m a marathoner,” and feel the well-spring of pride each time they say it.

Many things in life are “marathons” and require effort, work and yes, pain, to achieve. Not everything is a sprint.  Say Yes to No is all about marathons. Teaching our kids the skills they’ll need to achieve their goals. Our kids will face many finish lines and every time they put in the effort to learn a new skill, accomplish a challenging task, complete a course or degree, try something new, reach out to a new friend, help another person, learn from failure, they too will feel that special deep down feeling of satisfaction – real self esteem – that leads to success in school and in life.

My god-daughter crossed the finish line, tired, but with a smile.  Do you have a “crossing the finish line” story to share?

David Walsh