Change is my friend; I tell myself this constantly andI have always tried to embrace it.
When I was a freshman in high school, I remember my then-cross country coach saying that if you wanted to run well, you were going to have to learn to be uncomfortable. You couldn’t sit back and relax the pace because that wouldn’t make you better, help you run faster, achieve your goals. You had to embrace the discomfort when your body wants to stop, when your mind doesn’t want to think about running more laps.
Life is much the same way– we can be content but usually during that time of content we won’t be forging forward, we’ll be standing place.
Last week my routine changed as I left the “winter pool” (as I call the gym) for my “summer pool” (my pool at home). It’s always time for me to switch at this time when the water that felt so good outdoors all winter gets too warm, the number of people swells, and I know the dogs miss our routine of me swimming, them running around the pool.
But the wind hasn’t been my friend in the last week, keeping me from getting in my pool (I won’t reveal the temperature of the pool, but I’ll say it’s just a tad too cold for me). I had a harder time writing last week and it was like I was reweaving my routine, but not quite getting it the way I want it or the way it will work.
I'm hoping to be in my pool by the end of this week after another storm (that is only going to bring us wind here in Albuquerque) comes through. I’m trying to be patient with myself, to remember that being uncomfortable is good. It means I am forging forward. In one sense, it’s opening new doors and closing others. It doesn’t make it easy but it’s a good reminder that life isn’t stagnant and we shouldn’t be either. Our time here is too short to stand still.