Keep Going

March 15, 2011 Written by Frances Schagen

I watched Bourne Identity over the weekend.  One of the things that really struck me was that he didn’t stop.  Before we get going here, I recognize this is a movie and therefore may be somewhat artificial, but A) I’ve seen how this works in real life and B) I’ll take lessons from Bourne any day.

In this, the Embassy escape scene.  He keeps moving.  He gathers information, he improvises and he keeps moving.  How many times have we been in a situation where we thought, that’s it, we’re done here.   Yet, even when we think we are done, if we keep going, we find we can keep going.

He is chased to the top of the building and he escapes out an old fire escape door.  When he jumps up onto the railing to get to the roof, the railing pulls away from the wall he jumps back down.  He doesn’t stop, he begins to climb down the few remain rungs of the old escape ladder.  As the guards burst through the door he gains a foothold on the building and grabs on.  He climbs down using the brick layers.  At one point he makes it to a ledge and without so much as a breath he swings himself out over and continues to climb down.  Once on the ground, he picks up his dropped bag, brushes the snow off himself and walks quickly away.

First off, I’m not up for climbing up or down the outside of buildings, but I couldn’t help but think if I were, I’m not sure I wouldn’t have stopped a few times to rest, take stock, and think about what I were doing.

That’s the point I’m making.  We stop too much.  We would get much farther if we just kept going.

When have you experienced this? – keeping going, not climbing the outside of buildings – or maybe climbing the outside of buildings.  When should you have?

Aside, Do It
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2 Comments
  1. Joshua Joshua
    March 16, 2011    

    I really like this post. While there is a place for rest – even Bourne rested sometimes – we do need to be active more often. There is something magical about being pushed to the limit and working with everything you’ve got (even if you don’t think you can).

    Back when I used to run regularly, my favorite part was always the end. I’d pour everything left in me into the final sprint. I almost always found energy I didn’t know I had.

  2. Frances Schagen Frances Schagen
    March 16, 2011    

    I find, too, Joshua, that it helps being very clear about where I am moving. Otherwise I end up keeping moving going no where.