Chrystal Hurst shares a story about a speed-walker who encouraged her during a marathon to argue that success means running your own race, not comparing yourself to others. She uses a butterfly-cocoon metaphor and a Bible verse to show that each person's journey is unique and requires choosing to show up for yourself.
Listen, girl, you've got to run your race. I ran a marathon. Yes, one, only one marathon. I don't know if I'll ever run one again, but when I was running that marathon, as hard as that race was, I'll never forget the moment where a lady who was a speed walker passed me. Now I'm running, and apparently not that well, if the speed walker lady passed me, but I'll never forget what she said to me. She said, as she passed me, "Run your race, girl. Run your race." And I've never forgotten that because at the end of the race, I got a medal. They didn't ask me how long it had taken me to finish. They didn't ask me or pre-qualify whether or not they gave me the medal by how I compared to other runners. They just gave me a medal because I finished. I did the best I could after training the best I knew how, putting my best foot forward to run that race. I got a medal. Listen, I want you to get a medal. And in order to do that, you're going to have to choose to run your race. It is very tempting when you are looking to the right or the left and looking at your friends or your family members or your coworkers or your neighbors, and you see what they're achieving and how far they're going and what is going right in their families and how they're engaging with their friends. And to think that there's something wrong with the way you're running your race.. But I want you to know it's your race. Because you're unique, because there is no one like you, because people have not had your exact fight or your exact set of circumstances, because they don't have your makeup, they don't have your thought patterns, they don't have your realities, they can't run your race. And the only thing that you'll be judged on is whether you've run your race well. I want to read this scripture to you. It says in 1 Corinthians 9:24, Do you not know that those who run in a race All run, but only one receives the prize. Run in such a way that you may win. But here's the good news. When you're running your race, God isn't judging you by what other people are doing in their races. In your race, you're the only one who can win it because you're the only one who's built like you. My 5-year-old had a butterfly, a butterfly garden, and we took the caterpillars and we followed the instructions. And after a while, it was time to just watch and wait for them to come out. And I'll never forget that watching them come out, you could see the struggle. You could see the struggle and you wanted to help. But here's the problem, and you may know this, with helping a butterfly to come out of their cocoon, if you don't allow the struggle, they won't be able to stay alive. It's the struggle of the race. It's the struggle of the journey. It's the struggle of moving forward one squeeze, push, or step at a time. That actually gives you what you need to get a well done, to have a beautiful life. Are you in the middle of a struggle? Girl, you gotta fight for your life. And like I've told you, you've gotta look at your life in order to know what you're fighting for. You've gotta embrace the parts you like and the parts you don't. Then you have to choose to develop your life and do the work, the hard work of showing up. And then to be nice to yourself. To encourage yourself. But at the end of the day, all of these things are things you have to choose over and over again. And the reality is that choosing to run, putting one step in front of the other, especially in a marathon, it doesn't always feel good. And a marathon, just like life, can feel pretty long. But here's what I can tell you for sure. If you will show up and put one step in front of the other, over and over and over again, choosing to show up for the race of your life, only the race that you're running, that only you can win, because you want to get a well done from the God who created you, you're going to have to choose over and over again to do the thing. What's the thing? Acknowledging and remembering and celebrating that the girl in you She's still there. Listen, I hope you're encouraged with this 6-part video series. But if you want more, you can find more in She's Still There. This is a book that I've written, and I've written it with you in mind. If you and I were to go sit down at a coffee shop, this is all the stuff I'd say to you, be your big sister, and tell you the truth about a thing or two. And you can find this at chrystalhurtstv.com/shop, or you can get it anywhere books are sold. Listen, if you want to not do the rescue journey by yourself, come join us on the Facebook group. It's the The She's Still There Rescue Team, and you can find us on Facebook. There are a lot of girls in there who would be glad to have you on the journey with them. Hope this has been helpful. Take care of you.
