I\u2019ve been running without apps in my ear telling me how far I\u2019ve run, what my current pace is compared to the previous km, and how much further I need to go to reach my goal. It\u2019s liberating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019ve also been running without headphones. It seems strange. I feel judgmental looks passing by me: isn\u2019t that person listening to a podcast? An audiobook? Isn\u2019t he not even listening to music?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Just running and listening to the world around me has been really good. I ran like this for almost a year, since we moved to Porto Alegre. Until last week, when I took my headphones to listen to music and, without being able to explain exactly why, I opened that damn running app. Which accompanied me throughout the run. And you know what? It made me go further.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I see something cynical in goals as incentives. The carrot in front of the donkey. The goals that, you see, make us go further\u2026 Hm. I feel this because they can be the recipe for all kinds of abuse. Physical and mental. But the reality is that I\u2019ve repeated the use of the running app the last 3 times and improved my performance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now here I am, trying to reconcile these internal issues \u2014 in fact, I sat on a park bench and outlined the topics of this article right there at the end of the last run.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As the founder of a calm company, I find myself in contradiction quite often. It\u2019s 5:26 am now, for example. We\u2019re having our best year and a great friend laughed: \u201cRemember when you were super anxious and worried? Hahaha, it\u2019s always like that.\u201d And it is. Always like that. Which makes me question: are we having the best year because I was anxious? If I hadn\u2019t been, would we have achieved what we have today?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maybe the problem is when goals are imposed on us by other people. When we don\u2019t have the autonomy to decide when we want to run or just walk. It\u2019s a form of self-respect to know and be able to decide about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s now 5:42 am but I\u2019m not here wanting to be somewhere else. I love waking up early to read, think and write. I don\u2019t need a goal for that. Going to the gym? I need to set a goal for that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Goals can take us further, but they only truly help us and are healthy when we decide them for ourselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If I\u2019m running, focused on the pace dictated in my ear every km, and I meet an acquaintance in the park, I stop to chat. Too bad for the goal that day. It only exists to help me and not to imprison me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I started by writing that it\u2019s liberating to run without even headphones. I reaffirm it. I see no problem with this contradiction. Next week I\u2019ll change. Or not. Standing still \u2014 of that I\u2019m sure \u2014 is a problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As Bruce Lee said: even water, if it stands still for too long, goes rotten.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fabio Haag<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Contradictions of a Runner Without Headphones I\u2019ve been running without apps in my ear telling me how far I\u2019ve run, what my current pace is compared to the previous km, and how much further I need to go to reach my goal. It\u2019s liberating. I\u2019ve also been running without headphones. It seems strange. I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":23057,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[115,97],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23061","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-ideas"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n