Endurance is an Affair of the Heart
Endurance is more than just the ability to keep moving when your body wants to stop. It’s about something deeper—an emotional resilience, a connection to your purpose, and a willingness to stay with the experience rather than fight it.
For the intuitive feeler, training isn’t just about numbers and results. It’s about how the experience feels—the highs, the lows, the satisfaction, and the struggle. This can be a great strength, allowing you to tap into a well of deep motivation. But it can also make endurance training feel overwhelming when emotions fluctuate.
So, what is mental endurance?
It’s not just about "toughness" in the way people typically imagine it. It’s not about suppressing emotions or forcing yourself to push through pain. True mental endurance comes from acceptance, presence, and trust—accepting discomfort, staying present with what is happening rather than resisting it, and trusting that you are capable of moving forward, one step at a time.
Consider the idea that endurance is emotional, not just physical. When a long workout or race gets hard, many people assume their suffering is purely physical. But studies show that much of endurance is perceived effort, which is heavily influenced by your emotions, expectations, and mindset.
Think about a time when training felt effortless—when you were so absorbed in the moment that the miles seemed to pass without effort. Compare that to a day when every step felt like a battle. The difference wasn’t just your fitness. It was your emotional state, your perspective, and your willingness to be in the moment rather than resist it.
To develop mental endurance, you don’t need to become a warrior against pain. You need to become a companion to it.
