The Blerch in my Life

The other day, I came home to a surprise package from my mom. She told me to open it, and behold, I found this:

I had no idea what it was to be honest, but my mom was so excited that she had received this book the first day it came out and wanted me to have it.

While reading the opening pages I began to see the humor in the book. It was funny and really enjoyable.

The most striking thing about this book was the talk about "The Blerch." The Blerch is described as "a fat little cherub who follows me when I run. He is a wretched, lazy beast. He tells me to slow down, to walk, to quit. 'Blerch' is the sound food makes when it is squeezed from a tube. Blerch is the shape of my tummy after a huge meal. If I am sedentary at a time when I have ZERO excuse for being sedentary, I call this 'blerching.' The Blerch represents all forms of gluttony, apathy, and indifference that plague my life."

This instantly made me feel a connection with this stranger writing this book. It was like he knew me, knew my struggles, and finally identified the voice that tells me to stop running. I kept reading until I read this: "A wall is an obstinate, immovable object. You cannot silence it, you cannot outrun it, and you cannot beat it. The Blerch, however, can be outrun. He CAN be silenced."

The Blerch isn't just a fat creature who follows me while you try to exercise and tell you that you need a bag of chips instead of a 3 mile run. The Blerch is bigger, and follows me around all day everyday telling me to quit. There is a Blerch for just about everything we do.

When waking up for school at 8:30am, I hear the Blerch telling me, "Go back to bed! You want to sleep more. You can skip one day, what is the big deal?"

When shopping at the mall and seeing the newest Nike Free Runs, I hear the Blerch saying, "You deserve those, $90 on shoes is nothing. They would look so good and don't you want to run fast?"

And when it's the weekend and I am having a drink, the Blerch encourages me, "Just have a couple more, what's the big deal? You want to have fun don't you?"

The Blerch in reality is the devil sitting on my left shoulder while the angel on my right fights him off. Not to say that every bad decision I make is to blame on the Blerch, because I ultimately make the decision to do or not do something.

The problem with the Blerch, is that I am fighting with myself because the Blerch is me. I am the only one who can ignore or listen to the Blerch. He tells me to stop running, and I have to find the other voice WAY DEEP down in me to tell him "No thanks Blerch, I am going to keep running."

The Blerch is present in almost every situation I am in. When it comes to running, it is easier to give in to the Blerch especially when you feel tired and sore. It can be demeaning sometimes when you listen to the Blerch instead of continuing on. However, silencing the Blerch is just about the most rewarding feeling ever.

One of my favorite quotes of all time is by the running legend Pre who said,"Success isn't how far you got, but the distance you traveled from where you started."

The Blerch will keep you where you are, or even push you back closer to where you started. Setting your mind, staying motivated, and always looking back at how far you have come will silence the Blerch and remind you how strong you really are.