We were watching the end stage of the annual Guernsey half marathon on Sunday. The runners had completed over 13 miles of the coast of the island and the finish line was almost in sight. Most of the runners looked tired, some of them, exhausted! They had given everything to this race. The thing that struck me thought was as we and other spectators clapped them and shouted words of encouragement like ‘you’re nearly there’, ‘keep going’, you’re doing great’ as they ran past, it seemed to be making a difference to them. Some visibly perked up, their tired shoulders rose, some pushed out their chest and pushed on, one or two managed a smile, a thumbs up or even a strained ‘thank you! Some didn’t seem to even notice we were there but we clapped all the same.
Talking with someone who has run a number of half marathons they confirmed to me the positive effect of the support, the clapping. It got me thinking – I’m good at that(!) – and the word ‘cheerleader’ came to mind. As we do these days, I Googled ‘cheerleader’ – and Wikipedia tells me that cheerleading is ‘an activity in which the participants (called ‘cheerleaders’) cheer for their team as a form of encouragement’. As I thought a bit more on this I pictured the American football cheerleaders – probably what comes to mind for most people when they think about cheerleading – they shout for their team and support them throughout the game, no matter how they are doing, winning or losing, their enthusiasm remains, they still cheer. They also encourage the crowd to support their team.
We all need cheerleaders in our lives and we need to be a cheerleader.
I was listening to a podcast of a talk by Jayne Sargeant at Lifecentral Church (19th May 2019 – Live Your Best Life – Love Beyond Yourself) and she commented that living your best life always involves other people – living beyond ourselves, making a difference, helping others. A life of contribution and connection. Jayne quoted Mother Teresa, who said ‘do small things with great love’. This really ties in with being a cheerleader – we need to connect with people, take time to listen and support. Cheering someone on doesn’t mean you need to agree with them when you think they are doing the wrong thing but it does mean having their best interest as your intent, being kind and encouraging. It means loving someone not for what we get in return, clapping them along, not only in the times when they are winning but when their legs are tired, when the finish line seems a long way off or when the other team is scoring more goals. It means speaking positively about people and encouraging others to do the same. It means noticing what is important to others and letting that become important to you too.
Who will you shake your poms poms for?
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