I was wondering which animals had the best endurance. Horses and whales seemed like they could go far, relative to their size. However, there was one answer that was clearest.
The obvious answer would be humans. Humans are capable of some incredible stuff: like ultra-marathons, swimming, hiking, and power-lifting. Athletes in these sports train and practice for a long time in order to accomplish great feats like running 100+ miles or dead-lifting over 1000 pounds.
Then I considered what it would take to be able to endure such mind-blowing feats. A human has to have the capacity to endure emotional barriers and physical pain. There has to be, several moments during a run or for a split second in a deadlift, questions of what a person is doing. Pain would be consistent or immense depending on the sport or activity. But humans push through it anyway, so humans must naturally be very resilient.
Now, that’s not to say that any random person could get up and do a 1000+ pound deadlift right now. Training has to be done. I’ve been into weightlifting for about 5 years now, and I am just now realizing how much discipline and practice it takes to get to incredibly high weights. The same goes for any other sport. Discipline, training, and practice are required in order to push the limits of the human body.
And I’ve only mentioned the physical limitations of the human body. The emotional limitations is a near completely different ballpark. During the whole time of exploring physical limitations, the emotional side of the human is taking a toll as well. The human emotional mind is going to try so hard to stop the physical pain. But if a person is able to push through the emotion and rely on their training, then the body can continue to accomplish something great.
In the end, what I want to get at is recognizing how far the limits are for a human body and mind. Both need to be trained in order to accomplish something great. And due to all the people that have done great things through training, that can show how far a human can go. I believe that I can let the accomplishments of athletes translate into how to live. Humans are capable of enduring big things, and it will take practice and discipline to get there.