Recently when I went on my run (okay…jog) after work, for some reason the voice coach on my running app wasn’t working. Usually it tells me how I’m doing and how far I’ve come. It will give me an update on my pace and distance, which gives me just enough affirmation to keep going. But this time, the voice was stuck on the first interval–letting me know that my next interval of jogging for 2 minutes was beginning in a few seconds. It took me a minute to figure out that the voice coach wasn’t working and that, indeed, I wasn’t still on my 2nd interval of 11.
So then I found myself in a conundrum. Do I trust the voice of the coach who tells me this run is just beginning, or do I trust my own experience that says I’ve been going for quite a while? I checked the time on my phone, which said I was coming to the end of my anticipated run, just as the voice in the app said, “you are half way done.” I decided to trust my experience–the pace of my heartbeat, the physical response of my body, and the changing light in the environment–and believe that indeed I was ALL the way done, not only halfway done.
But I wonder how often I get stuck between a voice telling me that I am only halfway done and my lived experience giving me a different message. I can often hear very clearly the voice that says half-way there…I’ve got so much more growth, so much more development, so much more success still to achieve. Like the voice on the app saying “you are halfway done.” Even if things in the environment, my own physical experience, and plenty of other indicators are pointing to a possibility that I’m close to accomplishing my goals.
Sometimes the voice in the app is right and keeps me on pace. It celebrates with me when I have met my goal (“You have met your goal. Congratulations.”). So it is in life–sometimes I can clearly hear voices that are affirming and truth-telling. But every now and then, if I’m not paying attention, I find myself listening to a voice that needs to be recalibrated.