When I am happy, I am productive. I clean when I'm happy. I exercise when I'm happy. The cleaning and exercising both increase my happiness, until I'm just a fit and clean happy ball of sunshine.
Yeah...
But then something tough comes my way and if it hits me just right it'll send me to comfort food... and sweatpants... and sappy television.
The rational and sane part of my brain tells me, "But if you clean and exercise, that will make you more relaxed and help you deal with the tough stuff. So go exercise and clean!" However, I allow myself to fall into the trap, and I just don't do what I know I should do.
When I created this blog and named it Running Unencumbered, I meant it to be about running without shoes, without that extra weight or "burden". It wasn't until last night that I realized it means more than that.
It's not just being barefoot. It's running to BE UNENCUMBERED by everything that's weighing down on your life, no matter how hard.
Next year is going to be a stressful year (if I have any prediction skills whatsoever) and I know I'm going to NEED the running and the exercise in order to make it through. So I have to say NO to the trap, and remain constant, and hope the constancy will bear me through.
Unencumbered does seem like the way to go through life. Here are some additional thoughts…
ReplyDeleteSometimes it’s wonderful to feel the freedom of bare feet. (My favorite feeling – on the beach with sand between my toes.) At other times, it’s nice to have a big mother pair of hiking boots on. (You know, the kind that make you feel like you could climb forever, one step at a time, all the way up that mountain.) Encumbered and unencumbered; we feel one so that we might know the other.
Great post, Vero!
Oh and you'd better believe I own that pair of hiking boots! Thanks for the comment, Aunt Valerie - and you're absolutely right, we feel one so that we might know the other.
ReplyDelete