credo |ˈkrēdō; ˈkrādō|
noun ( pl. -dos)
a statement of the beliefs or aims that guide someone's actions : he announced his credo in his first editorial.
• ( Credo) a creed of the Christian Church in Latin.
• ( Credo) a musical setting of the Nicene Creed, typically as part of a mass.
ORIGIN Middle English : Latin, ‘I believe.’ Compare with creed .
- Dictionary Version 2.1.3 (80.4) Copyright © 2005–2009 Apple Inc. All rights reserved.
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This another school assignment (This time for Senior English) I haven't done any writing in forever, so I figured I would post this to see what you guys would think! I hope this inspires you all as much as it has inspired me over the years!
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I truly believe that a person has no limits. When a person is committed to doing something, mental strength will keep them going, no matter how much pain they are in, no matter how much their body wants to stop. Being on my high school running teams has been one of the things that has made me realize this.
In middle school I swam because I had trouble with my knees. I was okay at it, but I didn’t like it very much, only doing it to stay fit and there was no other sport I could do. Freshman year in high school I tried out for volleyball, but I didn’t make the cut. Since I had run cross country in 5th grade before my legs gave out, I made a hurried decision to join cross country late in the season. I ended up liking it and enjoying it so much I went on to join the Indoor and Outdoor Track and Field. At that time I wasn’t really thinking about the running itself and the mental aspects, about the pain I was in and how much it hurt to go fast. Now that I think back to the times of my freshman and sophomore years, I was basically numb to pain. I didn’t really think much about it. I just followed my coaches’ instructions religiously, almost to an obsessive fault.
Around the end of my sophomore year season of Outdoor Track, my brain became more aware. I started really thinking about everything, including how much pain I was actually in during races and how much mental strength was needed to keep going. By then, my coaches had really started backing off and releasing their hold on their veteran. I knew how to run a race. I knew proper nutrition. I knew the pre and post race routines. I had become a more independent individual when it came to running. They had taught me how to play the running game, and now I had to rely on my body and myself to play it by myself. I didn’t know it at the time, but during all my training runs and all of my races, my brain was being taught how to endure and deal with the mental toughness, how to race better, what food made me feel good or bad during races, my strides, what speed to go at what time... I just needed to pull it together and dig deep to access this rugged and raw mental strength and potential on my own.
Now, I feel like I have. I am still learning this strength. Every day, every minute of my runs. I believe that I am only getting a small handle on how strong I can be, and that there is always a way for me to be stronger and faster.
There is proof that mental strength is the strongest. There are examples of this every day. My freshman year at state meet, one of my senior team mates was going for a huge personal record. She was going so fast, making it look effortless, but you could tell she was in pain. She was in first place running her heart out. Then, about 50 meters from the finish line, her legs gave out. Her body just stopped. But she had enough mental strength to try to get up and try and crawl to the finish line. Every piece, every fiber and gear in her mind wanted to keep going, but her body physically couldn’t do it.
This shows that the mind can be the most powerful thing when it comes to enduring pain, about how far it can carry you. To the point where you literally can’t go anymore. My team mate could have dropped out of the race any point. She was clearly hurting, but she had mental toughness that just wouldn’t let her mental toughness let her quit until her body just said no.
