Shut The Duck Up!

I was recently running a 10.8 kilometre race when at the 8 km mark my body reminded me that I don’t typically run this distance. My throat was parched, my legs started to wobble, and I was convinced my heart was going to explode. But it was my mind that really started to play a number on me as I heard a familiar voice from within starting to quack at me. Do you really think you’re going to finish this race? Why don’t you just pack it in? Give up!

Funny enough, in that moment I actually thought of a duck. A yellow rubber duck to be precise. You see, I took a course a few years back where one of the exercises involved a duck. The course stressed the importance of being genuinely present and in the moment when we’re talking with our clients, our friends, our family, etc. Tuning in to the person we’re listening to and tuning out the distractions or duck quacking we sometimes hear in our head. The course provided strategies for countering the negative self talk or quacking we sometimes subject upon ourselves. I experienced some of this quacking during the writing of my debut novel. Do you really think you’re going to finish this book? Why don’t you just pack it in? Give up!

I ignored these self doubts during my run, just as I’ve learned to ignore them in my writing career, and I’m happy with the results so far on both counts.

Sometimes we just have to shut the duck up!