Even exhaustion cannot be maintained forever.
Sometimes, after exhaustion has set in, if we persist in our efforts, we experience a revival in mind and body alike.
The second wind is a metaphor of our lungs and our feet. It feels as if we had taken in a breath of fresh air when we had felt stagnant, enabling us to come alive again. The metaphor is often applied to runners who, after feeling as if they had “hit a wall” of resistance from their own bodies, find that they are unexpectedly able to pick up the pace again, as if they were fresh to the road.
William James described the second wind when he wrote, “If an unusual necessity forces us to press onward a surprising thing occurs. The fatigue gets worse up to a certain critical point, when gradually or suddenly it passes away, and we are fresher than before. We have evidently tapped a level of new energy, masked until then.”
A second wind can be experienced on any project of endurance, however, even if it does not involve physical exertion. An author working on a lengthy novel, forever, might experience a second wind after feeling trapped in writer’s block. A team of negotiators might feel a second wind and figuratively sprint to a deal after feeling for a while that no agreement could be reached.
The frustrating thing about second winds is that they sometimes do not arrive. Sometimes, when we’re feeling weary, our energy is truly spent, and we won’t be able to perform again until we get some rest. We can kill ourselves when we try to push ourselves past our limits, while the promise of a second wind is used to urge us forward, despite the clear message of our pain.
Is it a sacred pilgrimage or a fool’s errand? Is it time to quit or to stick with the struggle? Often, the answer can only be seen in retrospect.
