This picture is one of my most favorite places on earth. It is a place close to home where I have spent many hours mediating, sweating, and praying.
This is my home base.
With so many things going on this time of year, I have to take time to go here to clear my head. I know that I’m not alone, I hear it from my friends and family as well.
There are holidays coming up, birthdays to celebrate, sports events to attend, performances at school, and many other day to day things that are swirling around and filling up our to-do lists.
It’s times like these where we have to choose, and hopefully choose wisely, how we handle ourselves.
Do you allow yourself to lose sight of things? Do you lose your perspective? Do you let stress get the better of you?
I try not to, and hopefully I succeed. Instead of focusing on everything that is on the calendar each moment I’m awake, I take some time to breathe and get out onto the trail. I have to remind myself to forget the to-do lists and the busy-ness that will be there later.
The laundry will wait. The shopping can wait. If I want to be the best version of myself, I need to step away and remember what is truly important. By taking that time to embrace some silence, I can hit the reset and come back fresh.
Hitting the trail for a while will clear my head and feed my soul so I can come back and pick up right where I left off.
If you’ve never been much into trail running, I urge you to give it go. Even if you want to hike and not run.
I find peace when I’m among the trees. They are like old friends, waiting to see me and listen to my worries. They stand silently, towering over me and filling me with a sense of safety and comfort. I know that no matter how long I am there on the trail, I will feel calm and my heart will be full when I leave.
Lists, worries, stress, emails….they can wait. Just breathe….and run.
Run Happy. Run Long, Friends.
#runningtruths
Amy is an ultramarathoner and triathlete, a coach, a mother of four, an Exercise Physiologist and a Physical Therapist. She lives with her husband, Dan (also an ultramarathoner and triathlete), and kids in Ohio.
Running Truths 