Perseverance, they say it’s not a long race. It is many short races one after the other, in a world where what you are chasing seems to be running farther from you and what you are pushing away seems to be running closer to you. We humans only put in efforts we never know what our outcome will be, the only constant is that you are either running after something or something is running after you. This is a true story about my friend Hector and his second chance opportunity.
Hector is known to be a guy always in motion, if he isn’t walking, he’d be jugging if not jugging then he’d be running. He’s never not moving, except when he was at work. Whenever he was told to ease off or take a chill pill, he’d reply life is a race. Indeed, life is a race. Confirms why we are called human race, figurately.
Running is part of the first things we do in our lives. We learn how to take steps, once the steps align in position, we begin the race. From running to hide in hide and seek game, we upgrade to bicycle races and so on. Evidently, our live races just upgrade with our stages in life.
Back to my friend Hector, even though his job” Consultancy” required calmness and sitting in one position. He as a person is the opposite of his job but funny enough, he was doing well.
Hector knew how to bring ease to his clients, he knew how to make their highest problems, their life marathon, he knew how to make them see it as a short distance. He makes them understand it’s just a step by step, one step in front of the other, situation. They feel joy tackling their issues after consulting him.
Long story short, Hector lost his job to Covid-19. It was a sad situation not just for him but for a lot of people around the world. It was viral, even the surest job positions were lost. Every sector was affected Aviation, Finance… As a matter of fact, many are still in the process of resurrection. It brought about overload in the medical sector though, one positive thing I noticed about the pandemic is the fitness awareness that it raised.
During the lockdown, people had to engage themselves. The easiest thing for them to do was fitness and for some, their fitness mode was activated by peer pressure. Reading about it and seeing pictures on social media, hearing about it in the news, how people were burning calories even though they had no access to the gym, most people turned the four corners of their rooms to descript fitness centers and on top of the roof was where some chose for their fitness activities. Others who were used to running like my friend Hector were also at it. In groups or individually, the lockdown didn’t stop people from running. All of these pushed some people into fitness routines, and they got stuck to it till today.
Hector, despite losing his job was still motivated to run. I was with him on several occasions, even though I was stopping to catch my breath every now and then, I had the experience of the never ending “fulfilled feeling” you get from running. He told me running helps him clear his head, helps him feel achieved, I can imagine. Running 30 kilometers, I’ll also feel achieved but running was just like a hobby for hector. He never imagined he could do it as a job or even earn a living from it.
Until his source of source of living was swept off by the pandemic and left him looking for other means of survival.
After days and weeks of surfing the internet, fortunately for him he came across some brand ambassadorship program. He then decided to give it a shot, at that moment was when he decided to make a living from what he loves doing. It all happened in a blink of an eye, his application email was replied with an invitation for an interview. He informed me before going for the interview and I was just so positive he would get position because the determination he puts into running is more than needed to run with the brand company’s equipment for promotion and advertisement.
I think what keeps him going is what he gets back from running because he sure gets a lot back, mentally, physically and he’s about to get more if this interview goes as expected.
Apparently, he was the first to apply for the position and thankfully he was the last. That was how Hector secured a huge opportunity with a big brand during the lockdown after losing his job.
Running turns out to be more than just a remedy to keep you healthy or fit as we all believe, the essence and importance of running is in fact, the determination, endurance, tenacity, and achievement spirit amongst others that is gained from it.
Running helped change my friend’s life, it reflected on me. Running can play a big role in your life too.
Timmy Joshua
