I remember the first time I saw the light. Let me clarify. I’m not talking about a near death experience. I was seventeen years old and driving my moms van back home from a friend’s house. I was about five miles away from my house and the red gaslight started blinking. I started envisioning walking home as my abandoned soccer mom van sat stranded on the side of the road.
I immediately came up with the top three excuses that would not get me killed by my mom after I woke her up and told her what happened. I was thinking about possibly putting dirt on my clothes and making an elaborate story about running from a bear. Then I remembered that Tina Thomas would most likely end my life right there.
As these painful scenarios raced through my mind I noticed something, the car was still moving. I was almost home and the van hadn’t stopped yet. Unless there was a different meaning for the word empty I wasn’t quite sure what was going on. When I pulled into the driveway I realized my moms car was a liar. Maybe realizing that I was a new driver it wanted to play a prank on me. A little rookie hazing for the new guy whose a little wet behind the ears. Then I remembered it was a car and I wasn’t in a Stephen King movie.
The next morning when my mom woke up I informed her that the car may or may not have any gas left. I was about to offer my assistance so we could push the van to the gas station. Then she told me about the 30 miles or so you have left in the tank once the gaslight comes on. WHAT!!!?? My mind was blown, and if the van wasn’t made of material that would break my foot I would have went outside and kicked it for scaring the crap out of me.
This scenario would happen time and time again. I would be out with my friends, on my way to work, on a date, you name it I saw that gas light more times than most people. The difference now was I knew that cars were liars. I never panicked I would just drive twenty or so miles and then casually find a gas station. Having that little piece of knowledge made me calm. What I didn’t realize at the time is that like cars our bodies work the same way. Don’t look for the gaslight on your body just hear me out for a second.
Think about the hardest workout you’ve ever done in your life. The one where you were on the verge of tears. After you finished did you peel yourself up and walk to your car? If the answer was no you wouldn’t be reading this right now. Somehow you tapped into something inside of you that pushed you through the madness.
We all have this reserve tank inside of us. The problem for most people is they don’t know its there. So as soon as the regular tank start running out they panic. Panicking most the times leads to quitting. I always talk to the kids I train about the last sprint of practice. It doesn’t matter how hard we trained mostly everyone can push themselves through one more. That could be one more sprint, one more round, one more test, one more chemo treatment, one more job interview, one more anything.
YOU CAN GET THROUGH IT. The tank isn’t empty my friends there’s more left inside you. Now you know, so when that light comes on laugh it off and make it home.
