From an October 2018 New York Times profile of elite marathon runner Allie Kieffer, thoughts about letting-go and self-affirmation:

... After a few years, she missed running and started again —but this time was different. There were no goals, no opponents to compare herself with and no times to record. Everything was on her own terms. She made friends jogging in Central Park. She joined CrossFit, unheard-of in elite running, a sport whose athletes are not exactly known for their bulging musculature. She began running more miles than ever, she was healthier than ever, and she was happier, too. And then something unexpected happened: She got faster. Much faster.

...

Suddenly, Kieffer wasn't just trying to be one of the hundreds of elite runners in the country. She had become one of the best runners in the world.

In doing so, Kieffer has given us a powerful example of what can happen when we stop trying to force ourselves to meet preconceived notions of how to achieve success — especially unhealthy, untrue ideas — and go after our goals on our own terms. When we focus less on fixing what we consider to be inadequacies and more on reinforcing our strengths, we can realize potential we didn't even know we had. ...

Yes, and with a small correction: not so much "... go after our goals on our own terms ..." — rather, let go of goals and let be!

("Who Says Allie Kieffer Isn't Thin Enough to Run Marathons?" by Lindsay Crouse; cf Relax Into It (2011-01-09), That Feeling of Weightlessness (2012-06-23), Radical Acceptance (2015-05-13), Inhabiting the Body (2015-09-10), Mantra - Let Go and Let Be (2015-12-02), ...) - ^z - 2018-12-19