You’ve surely heard at least once in your life somebody saying “Calm down: it’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon”. People use this phrase to try and slow things down, but it misses the point. The first misconception is that a marathon is something you do slowly. A marathon is fast; it’s just as fast as possible for that athlete in that moment. Most people couldn’t hold an elite marathoner’s pace for even 100 meters. It’s a marathon, but it’s not slow. It’s easy to make a point that running a marathon is tough, not just for the distance but for the speed you try to keep. What’s maybe harder to see is that a marathon is much easier than many life challenges. You can simply prepare for a marathon. You get to the starting line with months or years of preparation. You tried progressively longer and tougher sessions, simulating the marathon effort. That’s a privilege. Many hurdles you’ll face in life will just appear in front of you while you were thinking of something else. A marathon has a fi...