The Goal on the Other Side of Your Obstacle

I’m 5’6″, 5’8″ with my hair in its signature messy bun. I stared at the bar ahead of me, three inches shy of my own height, hair excluded. It was the highest I’ve ever attempted. Each time before I’d failed, knocking the bar down with my arm or back. But there was something about that day, that meet.

The sun was setting and athlete shadows surfaced on the turf, everyone circling certain events to cheer on their teammates. I was a freshman, a newbie, but my legs felt good.

It was our conference track meet, and I’m a high jumper. I’d been running track and jumping since the 4th grade, it was nothing new, but this height was. My highest jump had been 5’2″ until that point.

The left toe of my spikes dug into the track at the tape marking my takeoff point. Right-sided high jumpers take the path of a half circle, run directly at the high jump bar and mat from several feet back, curve left at the bottom of the “L”, power off their left leg, and jump backwards over the bar (hopefully) to land on the mat.

I was “in the hole” (third in line), “on deck” (second to jump), and finally “up” (the one about to jump). I don’t remember the specifics of how many attempts it took (you only get 3), but I do remember the moment I cleared it, hoping the bar wouldn’t wiggle off the stand, nearly screaming when it remained on.

5’3″ was my personal record, my PR as they say.

High jump is a mental event. Natural talent, great technique, and hours of practice help tremendously, but no amount of memories from previous wins will heave you over a bar five feet off the ground if your mind doesn’t think you can clear it.

I love the sport, and although my form wasn’t always the standard arch, I found a way to clear heights. Until one day, and I couldn’t tell you which, something changed.

I’d had a pretty nasty back injury (among other injuries) that really messed with my senior year season. To be totally honest, I can’t say for sure that was the cause or if it started earlier, but the heights I cleared became shorter. I was jumping high school heights for a while there, and that’s not what a college athlete wants to compare to.

Heights I could normally clear without hesitation became goals to hit. I have no idea why, but it seemed I’d peaked and I couldn’t get it back.

My senior year, a couple weeks before the end of the season, a new coach was brought on to help. His sole focus was high jump and I really ended up learning from him. My jumping improved and I was starting to remember what it was like to jump at those heights again. Confidence was resurfacing.

I’ll tell you what, staring at that bar with any sort of doubt or fear of breaking your back on it (or bruising your arm like I’ve done) will make you run circles. The “run-through” is when you attempt but don’t actually jump, hence you “run-through” in a semi circle. Sometimes one does this for measuring steps and making sure they’re correct before the competition starts. Other times one does this during competition because they aren’t ready to clear the height.

For some reason, my confidence in my ability to jump was MIA in those years. Without the confidence to clear a height, you just plain won’t.

What is your bar?

What’s your bar? Maybe it’s not as literal as an actual high jump bar or a hurdle, but what is something so intimidating that you keep trying to get close to it but end up circling without taking the leap?

And, what is your mat? What is it that is important enough to you that knowing clearing said bar would be an accomplishment but attempting is the hard part. What goal takes all the confidence in the world to tackle, but that confidence is deflated by the sheer effort it will take to work on it?

Goals are supposed to be out of our reach, something we have to strive for to grasp. If they were that easy to reach, they’d be tasks. But accomplishing goals requires tenacity, drive, sacrifice. It’s hard, and that’s why so many people dwindle their progress until they’ve stopped completely, and the goal is left unattained.

It takes hard work. And like high jump, it truly is a mental game. You must get past the fear of not making it over and onto the mat (your goal). You can’t let a barrier stop you, an obstacle restrain you, a mountain to paralyze you. You can’t be scared.

We’re into the wild grasses here of new year’s resolution season. Today I’m offering encouragement to you and myself. You can do it. You can achieve. Look past the hardship and focus on the reason you want to hit your goals this year. What is your reason, and what is your goal? Keep focused on it, be intentional and detailed, and don’t get intimidated by the process. Because once you fly over that bar it is sweet, oh it is sweet indeed.

At the end of my senior season I may not have hit my personal record, but I hit a height I hadn’t cleared since the year before. Shy of my PR but achieving a goal to jump over 5′ again. Don’t focus on the impossibilities or the problems or the fear. Jump, because you have the potential to make it over.

Cheers.