I feel like the title to this post could be read by the voice from the old Hannah Barbara cartoons, you know the ones with wacky races or danger mouse and the commentator who says, ‘will our protagonist save the day or will he become the next pudding’? There’s no race here though, but the earth keeps turning and I’m ever aware that there is no standing still. At this time of year, I feel the crossroads where endings and beginnings melt together so quickly. Sometimes I crave that chance to just stop. and. look around.
I don’t think I’m wired that way somehow.
When the academic year winds down and the corridors empty I am keenly aware of a sense of finality, the (learning) party has gone. I miss the bustle and need to channel that energy – so I have been running. Today was run 107 and the early morning weather is definitely autumnal. Will I keep going in the year? What’s next? Oh there are various next projects lined up, but I find I question myself. (maybe we all do)
A friend of mine from school (yes, grade school) happened to share something where she was talking about the restorative freedom of permission to explore, whether that be creative endeavour, research, or the self. Speaking about her own practice she said:
I have the audacity to take a blank page for myself, and take another blank page, and another blank page, and to discover what’s there. What’s possible, what’s inside me, what could come through me if I let it. -Lisa
sounds like learning to me. I like that.
I’m definitely learning. (more on that later) For now, a tired pic of what it looks like for me to keep on running. (this was taken on day 106) Why the picture? Because I’m pleased to be in my skin, with my purple running shoes, with my koala bear socks with little ears above the ankles. No apologies for my not-smile or for anything else about it. I am pleased to have accomplished the 214 miles to date, and that in itself is part of a journey for me.
No matter how or where or what we start with or who we are, we never do know what we can accomplish until we begin the journey.
Don’t let someone tell you ‘you can’t’. You or I might not do it like someone else, but I won’t let someone tell me I can’t. Don’t compare me to someone else, because I am not you or him or her: I’m me.
My journey may take a very different route to yours, with different goals, and who knows if either of us will reach an ‘end’. I do know that I can keep chipping away at whatever my goals are, every day, like with my 2 mile runs. Every time I think I’m at an end-point I realise the wheels are still in motion. These moments of pause give enough time to gain perspective before catching a new breath and looking forward.
Whether in running, music, thinking, learning, or whatever it is that you do, I wish you well on your path. Keep going, both because and as only you can.
Keep on Truckin’ !