Here in Culpeper, I start my weeks working out with some very inspirational people at 5:30 in the morning … the early morning cycling crew of Powell. Iron men and women that have challenged my body and mind in all the best ways. This morning I was reminded of something very important:
The race isn’t the hard part, it is the training, those months ahead of time that require the dedication, commitment, and sweat to prepare yourself for that starting line. And if you’ve ever run, biked, or swam in a large race, you know how exciting it is when you stand there, early in the morning READY for the challenge in front of you.
Today is the first day of the last week of my last clinical internship before graduation. My classmates will all agree, it has been a long road (formally, almost 7 years of education *phew) and the excitement of graduation just on the horizon is palpable.
But this isn’t the END. It is the BEGINNING. We are at the starting line and it is exhilarating! Who knows what is just around the bend?
As we move forward, don’t forget to look back and remember how you got here. One of the most important things I’ve learned on my journey (not just the path to becoming a PT) is to relish in the days of small beginnings. It can be tough to be the novice, but just think about how precious these fragile beginnings are. The tentative first brush stroke, the first note … no masterpiece could ever come into being without them.
All of life is built by sequential stages of growth and development. We learn in Physical Therapy School about the progressive developmental stages of infant growth, it is important for a child to first learn to roll over, then sit, crawl, and eventually walk and run. Each of these steps is important and each takes time.
An open minded novice is like an infant learning to take their first steps, we’ve all fallen on our butts a few dozen times, and it isn’t important that we fell … just that we got up again.
Today, as well begin the LAST of our LAST weeks, there may still be some awkwardness and fear but that will fade with each subsequent step forward, and the foundation built in theses early days of small beginnings have opened us to all that is possible.
To all those that have shared this road with me, helped me up when I’ve stumbled, pushed me when I was tired, or showed me the bench when I needed to rest…thank you. I’ve never been more excited to be at a starting line.
READY? SET? GO!
“I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by conscious endeavor” Henry David Thoreau
A Cup A Day 
Xoxox, Dad