Enjoying the journey

Enjoying the journey
                        

A couple of weeks ago, my husband and I went biking on a local trail. I wanted to get in some easy miles after a fairly hard week of running. I enjoyed cruising at a steady pace while enjoying the scenery and the wildlife. My husband had his eye on the destination and the rest of the day.

How do you approach things? Are you in it to get to the finish or do you enjoy the process as well?

When I still lived at home, my mother and I traveled a lot, mostly by car. In the years before I could drive, I always looked forward to the opportunity to curl up in my seat and read for hours, uninterrupted.

Later, I enjoyed driving. I liked the beauty of scenic routes and the challenge of crowded highways. Although I very much appreciated the destinations, I also truly reveled in the time to get there.

What about parenting? Are you pushing for the day your children will be on their own or are you appreciating the time with them? When you are in the throws of sleepless nights or nursing sick children, you might want to skip that part. I can’t say I would blame you. But it’s all part of the journey.

Some days with your children may feel incredibly hard while others seem amazingly fun. When you are in the middle of raising children, it can feel like it will go on forever, but talk to mothers with adult children. They will likely tell you that from their vantage point, it went quite quickly. I had several tell me that when our kids were young, and now I can see they were right.

If you are trying to meet a fitness or weight goal, are you just trying to stick it out until you get the right number on the scale or run a certain number of miles? Or have you found a way to appreciate the process?

Consider how you feel during an early morning run. Do you pay attention to the color of the fall leaves or the sound of them crunching under your feet? Do you relish the time alone or the conversation with a friend? Do you celebrate getting in your miles around a busy work and family schedule? Do you feel triumph in going a particular distance in a specific time?

In listening to advice from other runners, I have heard many say it’s the training that keeps them in the sport as much or more than the races they choose to run.

The holidays will soon arrive. Do you relish the baking, decorating and shopping or do you just want to get it all done? I find I have more fun with the holidays the simpler we keep them. I can enjoy what we choose to do rather than feeling overwhelmed by how much there is to do. Whatever scale you select, take time to delve into its joys instead of rushing to get it over with.

Having goals and keeping them in mind can certainly help you keep going on days you would rather not, and reaching them can definitely prove worthwhile, but don’t forget to enjoy the process of reaching the goal as well. Find joy in the journey.


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