SUSAN'S ENDURANCE

I trained for a year for the Houston marathon. Then, about a month before the marathon, I decided there wasn't any way I could do 26 miles. After a particularly hard training run at 18 miles, I did not believe I could do much more. The person helping me said, “Oh, yes you can.” I kept going, kept training. The whole time I was telling myself, “You can do this, you can do this.” When I got to the point in the marathon where other people hit the wall—the 20-mile mark—I kept telling myself, “Only 6 miles to go. You do more than that each day in training. It's no big deal.” I did it, and it was a fabulous experience.

The endurance of running the marathon was nothing compared to the endurance of breast cancer. There's an enormous mind game you play with yourself, hearing the news that you have breast cancer and deciding what you are going to do with that information. Thinking positively, and seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, I carried on. What I learned from the experience was to trust God's plan above all and to know that we are never ever given more than we can endure. I also learned to test myself and push the envelope, to know that my mind is a powerful tool.

I wrote down a quote that has inspired me over time: “Expand what you know you can do.” Certainly my experience with cancer helped me to do that.

Constantly talking to yourself, reassuring yourself—to me that's how endurance is sustained. That's what helped me through chemo and the bad days, and reminded me I had something to look forward to. Now I've been cancer-free for six years, and while I'll never run another marathon, I'm learning every day how much more I can do.

Susan, 55

INTERIOR DESIGNER

Knowing you have the Feminine Force of endurance to sustain your passion, let's explore how endurance can be less of a struggle when coupled with the next strength, enterprise.

MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT SHELLEY