Before a horse is started in a race it is
vigorously exercised, ``warmed up.'' To the
uninitiated this process seems so strenuous
as to defeat its purpose by wearing out the
strength of the horse. Every horseman knows,
however, that the animal cannot attain top
speed till after it has undergone this severe
discipline.
In training for a contest an athlete usually
takes long runs. Soon after the start he feels
weary and exhausted, but, by disregarding this
feeling and continuing to run, a sudden change
comes over him commonly known as ``getting
his second wind.''
Thus the runner feels wave upon wave of
exhaustion followed by waves of invigoration.
Had he stopped when he first began to tire,
he never would have known of his wonderful
reserve fund of strength which can be drawn
upon only by passing through the feeling
of exhaustion. He seems to be able to tap
deeper and deeper reservoirs of strength.
<p 12>
_Many men have never discovered their reserve
stores of strength because they have formed the
fixed habit of quitting at the first access of weariness_.
Thus they never become conscious of the
wonderful resources which might be used if
they were willing to disregard the trifling
wave of weariness.
Our best energies are not on the surface
and are not available without great exertion.
We have to warm up and get our second wind
before we are capable of our best physical or
mental accomplishments. All our muscular
and psychical processes are dependent upon
the activity of the nervous system. This activity
seems to be at its best only after repeated
and vigorous stimulation and after
it has reached down to profound and widely
distributed centers.
_Most of us never know of our possible achievements
because we have never warmed up and
got our second wind in our business or professional
affairs_.
When an individual succeeds in tapping his
<p 13>
reserve energies, others marvel at the tremendous
tasks he accomplishes. They judge in
terms of superficial energy, and for such the
results would, of course, be impossible, even
though many of the admiring spectators could
actually equal or excel the deed.
Consider for a moment the work achieved
by Mr. Edward Payson Weston who recently
walked the entire distance from New York
to San Francisco without halt or rest in one
hundred and four days. Throughout the
entire journey Mr. Weston covered about
fifty miles daily, once attaining the remarkable
distance of eighty-seven miles in twenty-four
hours. Though Mr. Weston is seventy years
of age, at the close of the walk he seemed to be
relatively free from exhaustion and undaunted
in spirit.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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