A Saturday Remembered Fondly

We had a wonderful walk today. Gary (me) was the last one across the finish line.....by a lot! Somehow though, I came in ahead of the pack in some other categories that needed tending after. I think this morning's walk was particularly beneficial for me. You see I've been out of balance as of late and that is something that I have come to recognize as a real force and a challenge that must be met and overcome. It is quite normal and routine to face situations that test us. What age and experience have taught me is that these situations don't go away on their own. They need to be reckoned with and forced out of existence

I think we all know this intuitively from the daily challenges most of us face in making food choices. When these forces and their kin take contravening postions against our physical, mental or emotional equilibrium then we are usually in for a struggle. I've been there before and for me, it never gets easier. There was a time that I would lose out all the time to these forces. I would come across a particular problem and in response I would smoke, drink, eat, stay up too late and get up too early. When I came to my senses, most of the time the problem that set me off on these tangents remained.

Getting older has taught me that if I am to solve a problem I need to face the problem and not circumvent it in the hope that it will just go away. I have found that walking is an incredible tool in facing life's little twists. In talking this phenomenon out with Tony this morning he pointed out that running actually kept him more focused and got him to the solution faster than walking. I like to run as well and do agree that running seems to have a more hypnotic effect than walking and it does work some kind of strange magic for me as well. However, I am much more consistent with my walking and it doesn't beat me up physically as badly as running does.

Notice that nowhere in this discussion have I mentioned smoking, drinking, pills, food or self prescribed pseudo-comfort in anyway. All of that (except te food hurdle) is long behind me. I still have my challenges and I suspect will continue to do so until the day I die. Without all the avoidance and self-destruction though, I just get to overcome these challenges and emerge victorious on a much shorter timetable. I stepped somewhat into the light this morning and it did feel good. I do like my walking and I thank you all for being a part of this very effective therapy.