Feeling the crisp cool air hit your skin, you look up towards the clear sky scoping for the position of the sun. You take a few moments to think about what the next step is. You bend over to one side to stretch your leg, then to the other side. Jumping up and down a couple of times, you shake your arms and legs loose. You ask yourself: Can I do this? How long can I go for? Will I be able to finish? Should I go fast or must I go slowly? All the answers you affirm to yourself in your head. You know there is no reason not to go now, you are already here. There are many anxieties, but you know only good can come out as a result. You stop thinking; you take a deep breath, take a step forward, and go.
There are many times that we find ourselves in moments of doubt. This can be because of a lack of motivation, a lack of confidence, fear, or even misunderstandings. Every weekend when I go running, it takes a lot of mental preparation throughout the whole week. Not being an expert at running, I still know that there is much that goes into the process. I have always heard, “it is more mental than anything else,” even than the physical part. I rediscover every weekend from the moment I start to the moment I end, I am constantly reassuring myself that I can do it, that the run is good for me, and that it helps me stay fit. Throughout the run I make small goals, saying to myself “I will get to that tree branch” or “I will get over that hill;” and every time I get through the hard parts. I get through the struggle. But to do so I take steps and the steps are small.
Many times we get ahead of ourselves, desiring to accomplish our end goal at once. I know I have struggled with this, especially through the experience of running. We think we can automatically be fit or attain the reward we think we deserve, but things take time. Life is full of activities and adventures which takes time. Each one is a process that requires us to take one step after another.

We cannot say that true love does not exist when two lovers meet eyes for the first time, but there definitely has to be a period of time for that love to become authentically real between the two lovers. In just the same way that running is a process that requires a level of progression and small steps, so love demands time for organic growth. The reward of a healthy lifestyle comes after gradually training yourself and running one day after another. So too does a mature love depend upon a gradual and organic development of one’s affections and goodwill. Love takes time and if we truly love we will be patient enough to let it grow and it is with that time and small steps that we will see all that we potentially desired from the beginning become real.
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Quotes from Dietrich von Hildebrand’s The Nature of Love. South Bend: St. Augustine's Press, 2009. 27
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