Let's Light Each Other Up
Only The Smallest People Diminish Other People
You want to celebrate something you did that you’re proud of? I’m in. I’m always going to be in. You just let me know. I’ve got the music ready. The drinks are already cold. And I’ve got both adult sodas and regular sodas available. You let me know what you want and that’s what I’ll want too. Because this is about you. This is a celebration for you. Let me cut you off real quick though. I can see from your face what you’re going to ask me next. What if that thing you’re so proud of isn’t that big of a deal? What if it’s just a little something? Well, let me ask you something? Is this little thing something you’re proud of? If it is then it’s worthy of celebration. Big, small, medium, grande, venti whatever! Every size deserves some whipped cream. That’s how I roll. And you’d be best served to start rolling this way to.
I’m frustrated. I’ll admit it. That’s what is inspiring this post. Frustration. I’m not frustrated with the people celebrating what they’re doing or what they’re proud of doing. I’m not frustrated with all the runners I see celebrating their races and runs and comebacks and breakthroughs. I’m frustrated with all the people that have a problem with all those people celebrating. I’m frustrated with cruel comments that get left on posts people share about something they are proud of. I’m frustrated by people trying to dim someone’s light.
Ugh. I loathe that word. Dim. It comes from the Old English “dimm”. It’s all about darkness, and gloom. It’s all about obscuring something and that something being obscured is light. It’s about diminishing the light so there is more darkness. That’s what those comments are all about - creating more darkness. Well screw that. People that take time out of their day to troll someone that is celebrating an accomplishment are trolls. And they are weak. They are unconfident and insecure. Because no one that is self assured or confident or truly successful would feel the need to diminish another persons achievements or efforts in trying to achieve something.
Those people that feel the need to dim another’s light do so out of fear. They fear that someone else’s light will diminish their own. They’re wrong. More light only means more light. And more light means less darkness. And sharing your light doesn’t lead to less light. It also leads to more light! And if we all realized this we’d quickly see that we can see more, see better, see further or see farther… not really sure which word is the proper one here… is it further or is it farther? Word nerds! Let me know.
So, I’m frustrated. But guess what? You can help me. You can support your friends and family and teammates and even your competitors and strangers. When you see someone trying to shine their light a little brighter be sure to help them. You can do that by telling them you’re proud of them. You can tell them that they are right to be proud of themselves. Just doing that will help. Because most people are nervous to let that dim light of theirs shine. (Shoutout to Soul Asylum for not only making a badass album back in 1995 but also giving that badass album a badass name: Let Your Dim Light Shine.) And sometimes what they need is someone to help them protect their flickering flame. Block the wind. Share some of your fuel. Offer some of your light. You won’t lose any of your flame. But some of your light will now be a part of someone else’s fire.
I already feel a little better. It’s a little less dark. It’s not so gloomy. What’s being obscured is starting to come to light. I can see it. Can you see it too? It’s a better way to act towards each other. If you can’t see it yet you just may need a little more light… so just ask for some. There’s enough for everyone.
A GRAND SLAM ELEVEN YEARS IN THE MAKING?
I’m not saying that Rory McIlroy won the Masters because we went for a run in Central Park eleven years ago. I’m also not saying that it wasn’t the reason either. Congratulations on the epic win and the Grand Slam Rory. Oh, and two more things. First, pretty much everybody when they run strikes with their heel first. Especially when they are doing an easy run. And secondly, Rory cranked on this 5K run. He was walking and laughing the whole time AND running like 6:20 miles/4:00 K’s. Stud.
THIS IS ABOUT RUNNING. THIS IS NOT ABOUT RUNNING.
I was really happy (and proud) to see one of my quotes grace part of the race course during Nike After Dark Tour in Sydney, Australia. This is about running. This is not about running. That simple phrase has been one of the foundational pillars of my coaching for close to twenty years now. And that philosophy fit perfectly with the goals and aspirations of the After Dark series. Looking forward to future tour stops in Shanghai, Seoul, Mumbai, Los Angeles, and Mexico City.
I’ve got to admit… it’s pretty cool to see This Is About Running This Is Not About Running it up there on the building. Would have been even better to see it in person. Just saying… I’ve never been to Australia.
NEW COACH BENNETT’S PODCASTS!
Check out the latest episodes. And thank you to everyone that’s been listening to the show. The growth in 2025 has been fantastic. The podcast has now been listened to in over 14,600 different cities. In fact, we just added the town and cities of Riemst, Belgium, Gainesville, Texas, Wisbech, England, and Luqa, Malta to the growing list of global listener locations! Cheers to everyone that’s tuning in!
REFRESHED COACH BENNETT’S MIXTAPE!!
Oh baby is this a restocked, reloaded and revivified Coach Bennett’s Mixtape. I hope you enjoy it. Nah, I know you’ll enjoy it. I hope you love it. Play it loud. Loud is best.
Thank you for reading and running. I hope you enjoyed this latest issue of Coach Bennett’s Newsletter. I know that you have a finite time during your day so I truly appreciate you taking some of that time to read what I’m writing. I hope it helped you have a better day. And thank you for subscribing, sharing, commenting, and being a paid supporter (if you choose to be). Take care of yourself. Take care of each other. I’ll meet you on that next starting line.
Cheers,
Coach Bennett
Well let me celebrate YOU for this post. Such true words! Thank you.
Thanks for this! Trying to celebrate the fact that I've made it through my half marathon training even though I might not be able to run on Saturday as I'm still battling a cold. So I really needed this.