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Foster Kid
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 Dear Pollyann,
What a fun ride this last year has been. You never imagined making it to 50, but you did and in celebration you set out to embrace and enjoy this year. And wow, it's been great! You held onto your peace, your confidence, and your joy. You became stronger and more confident. You let go of all expectations and had FUN! This next chapter is just beginning, and there is so much time to become the person you're created to be. This year you completed the Cowtown Ultra ( 2nd in age group), Completed Hamburg Marathon while soaking in an amazing week of adventure with Steve. You completed the Chattanooga 70.3 with friends; Ironman Austria 140.6 in celebration of your birthday, Foot Traffic Flat Marathon (2nd in age group) with family and RAGBRAI with friends. You moved on to complete Ironman Mont Tremblant with friends, the Air Force Marathon (2nd in age group) with Steve and friends and the Ironman World Championship in Kona!! I ended the year completing the Holiday Double Marathon and took first place in the masters division. What a Fun and Wild Ride. You also spent time in Oregon and Colorado with your kids (they bring so much Joy to your Life)! You also became a certified personal trainer and received certifications in nutrition and women’s health. Your marriage is stronger, your faith is deeper, and you have become spiritually, mentally and physically stronger as well! Remember what you have gained over this last year: an embrace for facing your fears, a love of learning, surrender of letting go of expectations, and how to give grace to yourself. You haven’t lost yourself, she’s right here. This chapter is finished, turn the page. 2024 is waiting for you and there is plenty of love, learning and growth to be had. Happy New Year! Love, Pollyann PS: I want to leave you with 23 lessons I am taking away from 2023. I hope they hold something for you as well, Happy New Year! 1. You won’t have inner peace until you give up your war against the world. 2. Don’t shy away from challenges of life, confront them voluntarily. 3. When we have nothing left but God, we discover God is enough 4. If you master the mind, you can master anything. 5. The opposite of growing is dying. 6. You are not the voice in your head. 7. Do the next best thing…. 8. Self-doubt is fear's best friend 9. Complaining is Poison 10. Love yourself unconditionally and be yourself fearlessly. 11. If and when I notice negative thoughts creeping in, allow them to pass through with acceptance and without judgment. 12. Don’t live in a problem that doesn’t exist 13. Sometimes what you’re most afraid of doing is the very thing that will set you free. 14. Is it a tragedy or inconvenience? 15. Just because your past is painful doesn't mean your future won’t be miraculous. 16. Don't worry about getting old, worry about thinking old 17. Reflect, Release, Reset. 18. Suffering does not destroy faith, it defines it. 19. Immerse yourself in prayer. 20. What is meant for you will arrive in clarity not confusion 21. When the mountain seems too steep, think about what the view will look like on the peak. 22. This world is not my home; I am just passing through… 23. If the vision was impossible, you would have never received it
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 Run a Marathon-check ✅
Qualify & Run Boston Marathon ✅ 100 Marathons ✅ Run a Marathon in every state with my hubby ✅ Ultra trail runs ✅ 70.3 Ironman ✅ 11 Full Ironman's ✅ Kona World Championship ✅ What’s on the docket to accomplish in 2024? What new challenge is on my horizon? I actually don’t know (at least not yet). What I DO know is that I won’t settle for anything less than challenging my full potential (and for that, I am aiming high). Fear of failure will not be a barrier in my pursuit (whatever new challenge that may be). When I look back at the checklist of goals I have achieved over the years, I realize one important consideration that helped me persist: I do not let the fear of failure cripple me; instead I fear not trying or actualizing my potential. I think many people think they need to be perfectly ready to face a challenge; but what I know to be true is that overcoming the fear and trying anyway is a huge part of the challenge in the first place (and often one of the most satisfying rewards once the goal is met). Overcome YOUR fear (of failure/ not being ready/ not being enough/ etc.) and move forward to achieving YOUR goals. Fear of failure derives from various causes. One such cause is having unsupportive or critical parents. Someone routinely undermined or humiliated in childhood, carries those negative feelings into adulthood. Risks feel ultra-high stakes because the ego is afraid that failing at something means they themselves ARE a failure. Another source is experiencing a traumatic event in your life. As a child, I almost drowned swimming when I was younger, and my mom had to jump in and save me. I carried that fear ever since. When I was 45, I taught myself to swim from videos on YouTube while training for my first sprint tri. And if I am honest, that fear still challenges me; however, I still jump in. When we try anyway, we get better and push the boundaries for our potential. Now my focus is on not having a panic attack in an open-water-ocean swim without a wetsuit. If I hadn’t faced my fear at 45 and learned to swim in a shallow pool with floaties… I wouldn’t have actualized my potential as an Ironman World Champion athlete. I don’t say that to tout a fancy title, but rather to show how far we can push ourselves if we are honest, vulnerable, and attempt to overcome despite fear being present. It's impossible to go through life without experiencing some kind of failure (Some of us more than others). Those who live so far in the safety of their comfort zone don’t go far. Put simply, they're not really living at all. But the wonderful thing about failure is that it's entirely up to us to decide how to look at it. And perspective is everything. We can choose to see failure as "the end of the world," or proof of just how inadequate we are. OR we can look at failure as the incredible learning experience that it often is. Every time we fail at something, we can choose to look for the lesson we're meant to learn. These lessons are very important; they're how we grow, and how we keep from making that same mistake again. Failures stop us only if we let them. Think of the opportunities you'll miss if you let your failures stop you. Failure can help you discover how strong you are. For example, If I would have allowed failure to stop me, I would have never graduated from college. When I graduated from high school, I had a second-grade reading level. It took me ten years to graduate from college. There were basic classes in math and reading I had to take THREE Times because I failed the first two times. But I persisted, tried again, and worked hard… and graduated. Failing at something can help you discover your potential or help you find unexpected motivation to succeed. Often, valuable insights come only after a failure. Accepting and learning from those insights is key to succeeding in life. It's important to realize that in everything we do, there's always a chance that we'll fail. Accepting that chance, and embracing it, is not only courageous, but it also gives us a fuller, more rewarding life. If you’re someone who fears failure or you’re trying to navigate a challenge and what to check in on how to minimize fear impeding your process, let me share some of the strategies I have utilized to help me overcome fear of failing: · Positive thinking: “Once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, you’ll start having positive results” -Willie Nelson · Power of Spoken word: Speak " out loud" life, encouragement, and confidence into your situation when times get hard (counterpunch your fear with the spoken word!) · Explore/Accept the worst-case scenario: “The sooner you look at the big picture, the faster you can move forward” - Stephanie Gassman · Have a Plan B: If you’re afraid of failing at something, having a "Plan B" in place can help you feel more confident about moving forward. My personal Plan B is "if I fail, I will learn from it and try again.” · Visualization: Create the vision of what you want to achieve and lean into that picture as if it has already happened. Stop. Living. in. Fear. Start by setting a goal. The goal should be slightly–but not overwhelmingly–challenging. Think of these goals as “small wins" that are designed to help boost your confidence. For example, if you’ve been afraid to do an open water swim, just get in the open water and move around. Get comfortable being in the water and after a while start swimming with a wet suit and then eventually transition to just a bathing suit. Or imagine that you've dreamed of returning to school to get that degree you have always wanted but you're convinced that you're not smart enough. Set a goal to talk with a school counselor or admissions officer to see what's required for admission. Try to make your goals tiny steps on the route to much bigger goals. Don't focus on the end picture alone (you might vizualize it but you need to be present on the journey and where you are). So instead of just focusing on doing the Ironman or graduating with a degree, just focus on the next step: getting into the water or talking to an admissions officer. That's it. Taking one small step at a time will help build your confidence, keep you moving forward, and prevent you from getting overwhelmed with the vision of your final goal (or the fear that you might fail at achieving it). “I WILL NEVER QUIT! IF YOU QUIT YOU ARE DONE! I WILL PERSEVERE AND THRIVE THROUGH ADVERSITY! BEING FEARLESS IS HAVING LOTS OF FEAR AND JUMPING IN ANYWAY! THOSE WHO DO NOT JUMP WILL NEVER FLY” -LEENA ALMASHAT |
AuthorPollyann Keller Archives
October 2024
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