I'm finding new blue and green spaces, not just outside, but in myself.
Last Saturday I wrote about signing up for a virtual race as a way to motivate myself to get out and walk. It has been productive. Today, one week in, I've completed 10.1 miles, one third of the way to my New Year goal.
I always thought I had to get out and walk in the morning because I'm too tired at the end of the day. But I did one of my longest walks this week after dark, the coldest night of the week. I was bundled up in more clothes than I recall wearing for a long time. I made it. I was not too tired. It felt good.
Today while walking I found a new place I will call a prayer spot:
And in an attempt to make sure I got up to 10 miles today, I walked into the new Children's Garden at Lakes, which prompted some ideas for the story I'm thinking about for our TB prompt this month.
But mostly I've been a bit surprised on how my mood feels lifted a bit higher than usual. I particularly noticed it on Gold days at work. This is the day I teach four different classes with my planning smack dab in the middle. Usually by the time the last two classes come, I'm feeling a bit ornery. I have not been able to figure out exactly why, but it has been a consistent problem.
This week I noticed right away I was not feeling that way. I had more patience. No sign of grumpiness. I was able to slow down and think before reacting. Kinda awesome.
This extended to my home life. More than once I found myself extending extra special loving listening and response to my husband. I feel some kind of perspective has shifted a bit -- just a bit more light coming through the prism. This came in handy while taking our recent trip.
We drove up to Clearwater, which was difficult both going and coming home. Getting there we ran into plenty of traffic, and barely got to the hotel in time to change and walk to the theater; in fact, we missed the first song or two. My husband was not happy about walking because it is very painful for him, and he said he did not want to walk back. During intermission I found the house manager and she gave me the phone number of a reliable and quick cab service (note to self: sign up for Uber!) The concert was a wonderful time, relaxing and uplifting, and definitely worth the aggravation of getting there. When done I was ready to call the cab, but my husband said he could make the walk back, which we did on a lovely, breezy Clearwater night. I looked forward to walking around the neighborhood the next morning.
But as morning came, so did a sloppy rain. After our breakfast we left, figuring to be home in the noon hour, which would give me time to walk in Fort Myers, and do some other things I planned on doing since I had the day off school.
That also was not to be. After being slowed down by the rain, we got stuck on I-75 just south of Sarasota when they closed the highway for what they labeled "Emergency Scene." This delayed us by two hours. There was absolutely no way or nowhere to exit and, of course, I had to pee. It was crazy, yet somehow I found myself remaining calm and centered. Later we would find out that a man had fallen out of the back of a box truck -- fatally, of course -- and I imagine there was quite a mess to clean up. Jim also pointed out that they probably had to photograph every single thing to be sure it wasn't a murder!
By the time I got home, I was deeply in need of the massage I had wisely scheduled. It took care of all the "sitting in the car too long" aches I was experiencing. Today was a new day to make up for lost miles. The sun came up. I feel great.
Life is good...always.
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