Want to be THERE?

It was kilometer 14 and we were making our way up Calle Zaragoza.  Up, up … up.  As he doubled back to offer me some motivation, Ricardo bounced, (I swear he wasn’t even sweating) “We’re almost there.”   

The comment hit a nerve and I instantly time-traveled back to a similar time the phrase was used.  It was nine years ago in Medellin, Colombia and I was out on a ride with two colleagues Zeb and Mark.  After a rigorous serious of ups, downs, arounds, overs and throughs, Zeb uttered “We’re almost there."  I lifted my eyes to the long mountainous climb in front of me. We are not!

If you know me, you know, I love the climb. Perhaps its just semantics. 

I spent the entire end of the run (up, up, up) analyzing why I was so pissed.  Almost there.  My heart is going to explode out of my chest and he has the nerve to assure me that we are almost there? Epiphany struck.   In August of 2011 I attended my level one Yoga Training.  My teacher reminded us often, “You are either here, or you are nowhere.”  Here or Nowhere? Here or nowhere.

I continued to drag my body up that hill and it occurred to me.  We are never there.  I giggled to myself while maintaining a grimace on my face for the sake of it. Suddenly that Cake song entered my head “You’re Never There” only in my version they sang, “We’re never there, We're never there.  We're never, ever, ever, really there.”  

I needed more than this to complete my 180 of crusty-rubber legged derailment.  He was trying to motivate me.  What else could he have said? 

  

Each step acted as a micro-chisel into what it really was that was bugging me. Instead of assuring people, “You're almost there” (which is the equivalent of saying, “you are almost nowhere and you can keep going for as long and hard as you want, and you still won’t be anywhere…”) you can offer this:

“Enjoy this moment. It’s going to be over soon.”

Use often.