I’m a runner in the broadest sense of the word: I can run, and three or four times a week I actually do run – albeit slowly, and not particularly far. Lately, though, I’ve been talking about running quite a lot, partly for practical reasons (I’m training for a half-marathon) but mostly because it provides a bottomless supply of metaphors for life.

I work in academic advising. My students (who are, to a person, phenomenal) are in the thick of preparing for their final exams. The end of second semester is usually a grind for university students; the end of this semester, with its unprecedented challenges has been especially hard, and many of my students are struggling with burnout, low motivation or both. Most of my appointments eventually circle back to at least one of these topics, and in an attempt to give my students something tangible to work with I’ve found myself using running metaphors more and more frequently. Everyone gets them: they’re simple, they’re straightforward, and selfishly, they allow me to shoehorn Bruce Springsteen references into my conversations. I keep reminding my students that the end of the semester is like the end of a road race: they know they’re close to being done, but they’re not quite there, and that final sprint is going to be as challenging both mentally and physically as all that’s come before. As a student, I always found the end of second term particularly tough. First term ends with the promise of Christmas, New Year’s and longer days; second term ends with the promise of May. At this point, there’s something to be said for simply waking up, doing the work and going to bed each night. Keep doing that, I tell my students, and you’ll eventually finish, even though it might not feel like it.

This semester, students are running a second, concurrent marathon: the Covid marathon. We’re at a similar place with Covid as we are with the academic year: nearing the end, yet still having to grind until it’s over. In Ontario, where I live, we’ve just entered our third lockdown (or, well, “lockdown”) since Covid began. It feels as though this one’s going to be harder than the two previous ones – Toronto’s been in lockdown longer than any other city in North America – but that’s at least partly because we know we’re close to the finish line. We’re all tired. Students, meanwhile, are forced to deal with pandemic burnout concurrently with their regular end-of-term exhaustion. It’s easy to understand why so many of them are spent.

A lot of them are also struggling with low motivation. A few weeks ago, I was talking with a student about running, and eventually they asked me how I motivate myself to run. The truth? I usually don’t. It’s not often I’m fired up to go for a run – but I go anyway, because I know running’s good for me and because I’m working towards a goal (the aforementioned half-marathon). So it’s seldom a question of feeling motivated and more a matter of “just doing it.” And for me, a big part of “just doing it” means putting on my running clothes and choosing a soundtrack for the occasion (lately, I’ve been listening to an odd blend of Faith No More, I Mother Earth and Prokofiev). Because if I do that, then I’m halfway there; all that’s left is to walk out the door, fire up Strava and start moving. I’ve begun encouraging my students to take a similar approach to their homework: rather than, say, thinking about finishing an entire assignment, which can be overwhelming, start by making a tea, turning on the computer and doing a single problem set. That approach – focusing on small, achievable steps – can have a tremendous impact, especially when a person’s feeling stuck.

Life is often about “just doing it.” We can’t wait for motivation to find us: we have to run towards it. I know it feels as though I’m building towards a climactic “I’m going running!” ending…but I’m not. On the contrary, I just returned from a run. I didn’t go far, I didn’t go fast – but I went, and that’s what matters. And so now, I get to relax. Some day soon – maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon – we’re going to get to that place where we really want to go, whether it’s the end of the school year or the end of Covid or both or someplace totally different. Those final few miles can be tough, and it can be hard to keep putting one foot in front of the other. What’s important is that we keep doing it, with the knowledge that we’re getting closer to our goal with each step.

Coming Up Next on the #WhatsYourSparkBlog
Next Tuesday guest blogger Joanne Fung shares her thoughts about vulnerability in the professional workplace and embracing empathy.