What’s Easier?

“It’s easier to keep going than to restart.” That’s all I could think of while huffing and puffing and sweating profusely. I was only two miles into a measly three mile run, and at a pace much slower than two months before.

That was the problem. It had been two months since my last marathon, and I had not run even a block since.

It’s a lot easier to keep going than to get restarted.

Had I kept it up, three miles would have been a cakewalk. But I had a trip right after the marathon and was not able to run for over a week. When I returned, I was out of the habit. And since it was cold outside, I conveniently excused myself day after day. But, it would have been much easier to keep going than it was to get restarted.

You know what I’m talking about. You’ve been there.

Maybe you created new habits with your finances. You made a budget and paid off your credit cards. You were doing so well. And then, BOOM, you were right back to the irresponsible spending.

You were doing so well with your eating habits. For six months you ate healthy. No junk, very little sugar. And you were losing weight. And then, BOOM, junk food city.

You made up your mind to start reading your Bible, listening to Between The Lines, and praying every day. And it was going so well for a while. For six weeks straight, you read and prayed every morning before work. But something happened and now it’s been a few weeks since you’ve done either.

The really hard thing to do is to get back at it again. But you have to.

The longer it goes, the harder it will get. If I had waited to run again for another month, I wouldn’t have made it a mile. I know it’s easier to keep a habit going than to restart, but you have to.

In life, we mess up. We fall down, we run amuck, we screw up, we fail. But you are never a failure because you failed. You are only a failure when you quit.

So get back at it, whatever it is. Get back to reading your Bible. Restart the podcast. Get back to church every weekend. Rejoin your community group. Start eating healthy again. Get back to talking decently to your spouse. Whatever it is, get back at it and recreate the habit.

Then keep it going. Because it’s a lot easier to keep going than to get restarted.