Personification of That Which Ails You
I was given a really funny book called Taming Your Gremlin several years ago. The greatest thing it did for me was to personify whatever it was, psychologically speaking, that was making me miserable. It gave me the change to draw my gremlin and to talk directly to her.
When I began making progress in running, I personified my negative voice (her name is Nancy) and each run I make I say, “Nancy, you are welcome to come on this run with me, but you are not invited to speak.”
And now, from my newest read, Born to Run:A Hidden Tribe, Super Athletes and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen, I just figured out to personify my exhaustion. Still working on a name for her, but she is the one responsible for the lead boots I wear sometimes, and for the voice that says, whiningly, “I’m just too tiiiirrrrrrred.” Dear exhaustion: shut up.
Go, Lia. Go, Lia. Go!