Our thoughts are hidden super powers that most individuals have yet to tap into. If you tell yourself “I will”, or “I can”, most likely you will. Vice Versa, when you feed your mind with negative affirmations there will more likely be a negative result. My father would give me great advice when I would go through struggles. I remember him counseling me during a tough time in my life  ‘ … you need to make the most of this situation, stay positive, and most importantly, be true to yourself”. As I have grown into what I like to believe an independent woman, I realize more and more how great his advice was at that time in my life and still today. My father taught me at an early age to never give up on the things that matter most to me.

My coach once told me that when I am on the brink of giving up, even though my mind is telling me it is too hard to continue, physically I most likely still have sixty percent left in my tank to continue. To be completely honest, it can easily become overwhelming if I catch myself skipping to the end result, especially when my end goal is so big I am sometimes even afraid to tell my closest of friends and family. In order to get past this anticipation I am constantly dividing my daunting tasks into small manageable tasks and executing one at a time. For example, I have 22 miles to run today in my training, I manage this by focusing on each step and every breath. If I am able to focus my energy and break down my run step by step, the journey is much more doable in my mind. I started my athletic journey in sports as a young girl. But most recently, in the past five years, I began my journey as an endurance multisport athlete. I was attracted to the sport as it became a strong release for me as I was dealing with my father’s death and still is a release for me today. When my training or my competition gets tough my first inclination is to think back on why I started, while also remembering that advice my father use to give me all the time, “everything is going to be ok, just don’t give up Lindsey.”

In the last year I relocated my life to the border town, Laredo, Texas with a mission to mentally and physically prepare aspiring athletes as they set out on the journey to reach their wildest dreams in their respective sport. During my initial consult with new athletes I have found one common denominator, that being the athletes are very shy to share their dreams with a person they just met 10 minutes ago and a few of them have yet to dream up a big dream for their life. Over the years, sport has taught me many life lessons but one of the most valuable lessons I’ve learned is goal setting. Without specific goals, long term and short term goals, we have no direction and it becomes very difficult to create a plan without any direction. Once I am able to truly gather each athlete’s goals and write a plan for them, it becomes so unbelievably rewarding to watch them continue to put up new numbers every week in the weight room, on the field, on the court, and on the track.

Being an athlete is extremely challenging both physically and mentally, as you are constantly being pushed past your limits, criticized, critiqued, and broken down on many levels. Yet amongst all the adversity you are expected to be tough as nails as you make your craft look easy. The team of coaches I work with here in Laredo, Texas is constantly reinforcing a positive outlook for the athlete. As an athlete you have to understand how important the mental game can be on your good days and also on your bad days. You have to believe in yourself that you can reach your dreams with hard work, consistency, and proper guidance. Our motto here is “Embrace the Grind”, meaning the battle royale between your mind, your body, and the devil on your shoulder telling you it’s just a waste of time. You will always have naysayers; the people who say you don’t have the talent to go far. My hope is to see my athletes fully believe in themselves, rise above the devils on their shoulder, and go after their dreams whole-heartedly.

The truth of the matter is that you never truly fail until you quit on yourself. We all know those people; they may be your friends, your family, or your coworkers. They could easily be labeled as the “Could Have’s”. You listen to their never ending stories of how great they were, and they finish their grand story with “ I could have been really great, but [Fill in Excuses]”. I made a promise to myself that I will never be a “Could Have”. When my future children or grandchildren ask me about my story, I will tell them my story and finish my story with “I gave it my absolute best”. The fight is never over until you call it over. I will never be a victim of toxic negativity. When life gets tough, you get tougher but only through a positive lens!

A positive outlook of belief in yourself and your journey is the most valuable investment you can ever give yourself. This great investment starts between your ears and in the darkest of days, the hardest battles, life’s toughest struggles is when your investment of positive thinking will take root in your heart and all you believe. In the darkest of days your light will shine brighter than ever and who knows, you may even end up being a beacon for others to follow. Stay the course, embrace your strength from within, never give up, and always be true to every bit of essence of who you are, what you want to accomplish, and who you want to be!

Lindsey, FitWild ambassador, is a previous collegiate basketball player gone elite endurance athlete. In the past 4 years she has competed on multiple world platforms traveling the globe for Team USA Duathlon. In 2012 she earned a world silver medal in the Switzerland Long Course Duathlon World Championships, a world bronze medal in the 2013 Ottawa Duathlon World Championships, is a 2x National Champion, and also earned All-American honors in her 2015 race season. Along with preparing for her own competitions, she spends her free time blogging/writing about all things running, cycling, and fitness while training aspiring athletes at Elev8 Performance Lab in Laredo, Texas.
Instagram (@lindsey.torgerson)