I heard someone say the other day, "Everything gets done by someone who had a hard time getting out of bed this morning."
SO TRUE!! I've yet to hear about anyone over the age of 10 leaping out from under the cozy blankets singing, "GOOD MORNING, WORLD!"
Nope. We are all a bunch of grumps in the morning. And I'm a morning person, once I get going. But every single morning, I chant to myself, "Just keep moving. Just keep moving." and eventually I stumble my way out into the cold world, coffee in hand.
Just. Keep. Moving.
Thursday, October 27, 2016
Wednesday, October 26, 2016
The Good Old Days
I have a spectacularly terrible memory. I count on pretty much everything in my life being written down.
I've been revisiting an old blog lately because I am having problems getting back into the kind of lifestyle I actually want to lead - one that is about being healthy, being active and being an active participant in my own life.
I was thinking, wow, it was so much EASIER when I first started this years ago. But in reading those old posts, I realized, no, it actually wasn't. It was hard then, too. It was hard to learn how to eat properly. It was hard to find the motivation to get out of bed hours before dawn just to go to the gym. It was hard to find people who also wanted to be active and were interested in things like hiking and working out and dancing and stuff.
But I realized that somewhere along the line I thought this would all be so second nature to me, that I would someday burst out of bed with a smile on my face thinking, YAY! I GET TO WORK OUT TODAY!
That has never happened. The best it got was that it was so routine after a while that I didn't question it... I just kept moving until my clothes were on and I was walking out the door.
Knowing how to eat healthy has been easier -but ACTUALLY eating healthier is still challenging. When I'm tired and sad, I want comfort food -like mac n cheese or cookies. I have yet to crave carrots.
In a weird way, it DOES help to know that the struggle isn't new. It helps to know that the way in has been paved. It helps to remember that, like all journeys home, it is simply one step at a time.
I've been revisiting an old blog lately because I am having problems getting back into the kind of lifestyle I actually want to lead - one that is about being healthy, being active and being an active participant in my own life.
I was thinking, wow, it was so much EASIER when I first started this years ago. But in reading those old posts, I realized, no, it actually wasn't. It was hard then, too. It was hard to learn how to eat properly. It was hard to find the motivation to get out of bed hours before dawn just to go to the gym. It was hard to find people who also wanted to be active and were interested in things like hiking and working out and dancing and stuff.
But I realized that somewhere along the line I thought this would all be so second nature to me, that I would someday burst out of bed with a smile on my face thinking, YAY! I GET TO WORK OUT TODAY!
That has never happened. The best it got was that it was so routine after a while that I didn't question it... I just kept moving until my clothes were on and I was walking out the door.
Knowing how to eat healthy has been easier -but ACTUALLY eating healthier is still challenging. When I'm tired and sad, I want comfort food -like mac n cheese or cookies. I have yet to crave carrots.
In a weird way, it DOES help to know that the struggle isn't new. It helps to know that the way in has been paved. It helps to remember that, like all journeys home, it is simply one step at a time.
Monday, October 24, 2016
Camino Heart
My gorgeous niece, Kat, and I walked the Camino de Santiago a few weeks ago. I carried with me many prayer intentions from my friends, family and work colleagues. (The benefit of working for a Catholic college is that everyone gets pretty excited about pilgrimages.)
We have been back for two weeks, but it feels like a year. Trudging up steep hills, wandering through vineyards full of fat grapes, the astonishment of the wayside chapels and shrines, and the easy chatter of complete strangers seems almost like another life.
I think I had hoped for some grand revelation. The past two years have been a moving battlefront and I have to believe there was purpose to it all. I thought the answer might lie on a dirt trail in Spain.
The only thing that really struck me was how very human we all are, even as we strive to great spiritual heights. Starting the day with prayer contrasted with small arguments. Praying the rosary while hiking contrasted with the final few miles of every day just wanting to be done, feet pounding to the beat of "this sucks. this sucks. this sucks." Embracing simplicity contrasted with a grimace at yet another bocadilla, jamón y queso, gracias. Great intentions met pneumonia and ugly blisters.
Perhaps that is the message, everything gets dragged down by the mundane.
But there is more.
I saw my niece, (who was, frankly, thoroughly unprepared to walk across the countryside of a foreign land) lift her chin and walk alone, and learn that she is far more capable than she really knew. I experienced the kindness of complete strangers when we needed help. We saw the faith of people who had just walked 300 miles to kneel on the stone floor of the cathedral to thank God for the blessing of this experience. I saw the piles of small slips of paper like hopeful snow in the crypt of St. James, as pilgrims from all over the world carried their intentions to this holy place.
And somewhere along The Way, I felt fully heard, fully loved and fully known.
We have been back for two weeks, but it feels like a year. Trudging up steep hills, wandering through vineyards full of fat grapes, the astonishment of the wayside chapels and shrines, and the easy chatter of complete strangers seems almost like another life.
I think I had hoped for some grand revelation. The past two years have been a moving battlefront and I have to believe there was purpose to it all. I thought the answer might lie on a dirt trail in Spain.
The only thing that really struck me was how very human we all are, even as we strive to great spiritual heights. Starting the day with prayer contrasted with small arguments. Praying the rosary while hiking contrasted with the final few miles of every day just wanting to be done, feet pounding to the beat of "this sucks. this sucks. this sucks." Embracing simplicity contrasted with a grimace at yet another bocadilla, jamón y queso, gracias. Great intentions met pneumonia and ugly blisters.
Perhaps that is the message, everything gets dragged down by the mundane.
But there is more.
I saw my niece, (who was, frankly, thoroughly unprepared to walk across the countryside of a foreign land) lift her chin and walk alone, and learn that she is far more capable than she really knew. I experienced the kindness of complete strangers when we needed help. We saw the faith of people who had just walked 300 miles to kneel on the stone floor of the cathedral to thank God for the blessing of this experience. I saw the piles of small slips of paper like hopeful snow in the crypt of St. James, as pilgrims from all over the world carried their intentions to this holy place.
And somewhere along The Way, I felt fully heard, fully loved and fully known.
photo of La Virgen Peregrina, Pontevedra, Galicia, España.
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