“Thirty years ago my older brother, who was ten years old at the time, was trying to get a report written on birds that he’d had three months to write, which was due the next day. We were out at our family cabin in Bolinas, and he was at the kitchen table close to tears, surrounded by binder paper and pencils and unopened books about birds, immobilized by the hugeness of the task ahead. Then my father sat down beside him put his arm around my brother’s shoulder, and said, “Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird.”

— anne lamott

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I spend so much time worrying about the enormity of things. How do I get where I want to go from where I am right now? It’s so daunting. Impossible.

But running doesn’t require a big plan, a massive effort. It just requires one run. And then another. And maybe another after that. The miles add up, the legs get stronger, the mind gets more confident. And then the impossible becomes very possible after all.

I was thinking about that today. 12 miles on a hot and humid day. I can remember when running 12 miles after a 20 miler would have seemed like a big deal. But not so much anymore. You just keep doing it until your body gives up and goes along for the ride. And once you get there, you look out at the next horizon. And you head that direction, one step at a time.

Don’t look at the big picture. It’s too big.

Just take it bird by bird.