Hi, Friend.
I cut myself while shaving in the shower the other day. I was thawing my cold butt after a snowy run - one foot on a bench with a razor in hand, as my calf muscle twitched under the blade.
I am really enjoying how dramatic this ^^^ sounds.
The whole thing was actually quite uneventful. There wasn’t even any blood - just a tiny knick. The only reason it was of any note to me, is because my calf muscles don’t usually twitch like this after a run, but they did today.
What was different?
It snowed nonstop for three days before this run. The trail was passable, thanks for fat bikes and dog walkers, but I still had to run ankle deep in snow.
Something interesting happens when terrain varies.
Pace changes. How the body feels changes. Even the specific muscles that are sore after change - hello, calf twitch!
Terrain matters.
In fact, as terrain gets more challenging, distance becomes less and less meaningful of a metric.
My fastest mile was probably somewhere around six minutes.
My slowest mile was over an hour.
“Only a mile to go!” takes on a whole different meaning, when that mile is UP the mountain, AND it’s raining, AND you are supposed to drag two sandbags with you.
There are only a couple of days left of this year.
End of December is a weird time. That week between Christmas and New Year is like an annual equivalent of a mid-life crisis.
- What did I accomplish this year?
- Did I accomplish enough?
- Am I enough?
- Is this all there is?
- What am I even doing with my life?
- Am I making any difference?
- Am I making enough of a difference?
- Who am I?
- Does any of this matter?
- How am I going to reinvent myself going forward?
- I wish I could just start over.
Amirite?
OHMYGAWD, it’s not just me, right?
As I have been helping folks in the last two weeks to find their word of the year, I’ve been asking what their 2022 word might have been.
You know what many said?
“Survival.”
Many have described this past year as a muddy uphill slog - putting one foot in front of the other, and then feeling bad (so bad!) about the distance covered.
Soooo…. Just a reminder from the Captain Obvious over here, that when terrain is tough, we tend to cover less distance.
This is me saying that perhaps… the distance you travelled this year - in work, in life, in money made, in words written - is less meaningful of a metric than you think.
2022 has been a muddy uphill year, and we have all climbed, and crawled, and dragged our butts forward. Are we gonna high five or what?
2023 will be different.
Another year always is.
Hugs,
