Friday Coffee Date
Hooray! It’s Friday! Our super busy week is drawing to a close. Since it’s Friday, it’s time for a delicious hot Earl Grey tea (that IS what you’re drinking, right?) and- wait. Why do I call this post “Coffee Date” when I don’t drink coffee? Must think about that. Anyway… If we were having coffee (tea) together, I would tell you that I’ve kind of, sort of been doing Gretchen Rubin’s “Write 24 for 24” project, where you write for 24 minutes a day (or, if that’s too daunting, 2-4 minutes.) I started on February 28 and was very consistent for about a month- now it’s hit or miss. But something is better than nothing (right?) I looked back at what I wrote in March, and boy… was I whiny. It was right after I sprained my ankle, and there was so much emoting over how much it hurt, how much I hated limping around, and how much I wanted to be running again. And remember how I was thinking of doing a different 50 mile race, but then it got sold out before I could register? THAT was the end of the world, for a couple days. Writing it all out like that was helpful, because it meant I didn’t bore family and friends (and blog readers!) with all my complaining. But reading it two months later, the main thing that struck me was how temporary it all was. All the things that seemed so terrible at the time were actually little blips that mean nothing now. Hmmm. This week’s episode of Sally McRae’s podcast is titled “The Powerful DNF.” Sally talks about how to reframe a disappointing experience by asking “What have I gained?” (I definitely learned a lot from my DNF!) She also points out that whether you finish your race or not, life will go on. The sun will raise again and you’ll go back to work. Soon you’ll be running again and there will be other races- this all happens regardless of your race result. That got me thinking. As sad as I was on February 17th, I’m not sure I feel any differently today- May 9th- than I would have if I had finished that race. As a matter of fact, if anything, I might actually be HAPPIER. If I had finished Forgotten Florida, then the race I’m doing at the end of this month- Sweat, Swat ‘n Swear- wouldn’t have been on my radar. Who knows, I might be moping around right now, saying “Life feels so meaningless without a race to train for”.and instead I’m excited about a race coming right up. The last thing I would tell you over coffee is that our extremely busy season is drawing to a close. My daughter has events today and tomorrow, and then things calm down. It was really only two weeks of insanity. Once again, it was only… temporary. If you’re going through a hard or busy time right now, can you see the light at the end of the tunnel? Do you have any “disasters” in your past which you can now see as temporary setbacks? Who else likes Earl Grey Tea???!