Don’t Stop Believing

I was driving down a local highway, switching through radio stations, when I landed on a song I have heard a million times. This time, though, it took me back to a different place….

Some will win… some will lose… some were born to sing the blues

Oh the movie never ends it goes on… and on… and on…

Suddenly I'm standing there with Kyle and Morgan. They are both teachers at a high school and they drove an hour to run the 13.1 miles that morning. As the all-too-familiar Journey song started to play, I paused in our conversation to look around. There were about a hundred people standing around me who, two minutes prior, were completely ignoring the Journey cover band. Yet now, they had all stopped talking, turned, and smiled while they listened and watched the band perform Don't Stop Believing.

I commented to these new friends how amazing it is that a song like that, one we've heard a million times, can still make a room stop. There is something about those lyrics… don't stop believing… that I think we all want. We want to be inspired and motivated to want more and expect more out of life.

We continued to chat through the less-familiar songs. It was Kyle's first Half Marathon and so we talked about the accomplishment, what it was like for Morgan and I during our first Half, and what training was like for them. I laughed when they told me that part of their training was running to the bar.

They would run 4 miles, stop for a beer, then run 4 more.

What I loved about their training strategy is that it was for them. Sure, it's probably not what expert runners or trainers would recommend, but it's what got Kyle through training and to that finish line. It was simple, it was what he needed, and it was fun. Going after your goals doesn't need to be terribly hard. You can make it fun. You can make it whatever you need.

I wonder if Don't Stop Believing will always make me think of Kyle, Morgan, and their 4 mile beers. I hope so. I hope every time I hear those words it is a gentle reminder that believing doesn't need to look the way I might initially think it does. And it also doesn’t need to look the way everyone else might think it should look. Believing in your goals, in accomplishment, in getting the most out of life might look different for you than it does for me, and that’s okay. Holding on to that feeling is not one-size-fits all. It just needs to fit you.