Finishing Strong

Last week I received these two pictures from my son, showing off his completion of the Hawaii Hapalua Half Marathon.

What a proud moment for him and then of course for me! He was a finisher of running 13.5 miles, and a strong finisher at that.

Congratulations again, Karrington. What an amazing accomplishment.

Of course, it got me thinking about the importance of not just finishing what we start, but finishing strong.

We are nearing the end of a tremendously challenging school year. Some have already finished and I hope have finished strong.

As a retired educator, helping kids to finish strong was always a challenge. Drained engines, run down batteries, and fighting off those thoughts of summer were a constant hurdle, and not just in the students. The staff and faculty dealt with it too- finishing strong was our war cry!

For my husband and I, we have recently faced this as well. Together we had accepted a task, and were running our race toward the finish line. Knowing the finish line was in sight, we continued to choose to perform our job with all our strength, energy, passion and wisdom that we started with.

We were challenged, as I’m sure Karrington was in his race to compromise or let up, or maybe even quit early. But we didn’t. It was important for our end, finish line moment to be strong and one that revealed our best effort and was one we could be proud of.

Finishing strong is a sign of commitment, integrity, and excellence. It’s about choice. How we choose to perform a job or task.

We each have many opportunities to choose how we finish, or IF we finish at all. Finishing is very important. Finishing strong reveals who you really are on the inside.

I don’t know where you’re at… which list needs completing or what task is yet unfinished. But your brain wants you to finish it, and your continued well being depends on it.

Let your brain celebrate you with it’s dopamine burst as you set out to finish strong.

Cheers to you.

Debbie