Sometimes getting out and running( especially now that it's cold and dark) is the hardest thing for me to do. It takes a significant amount of my emotional energy and willpower to get out there. I have to plan my day around my run, shuffle other priorities that are very important to me, ignore my immediate comfort, forego a sitdown dinner and endure a significant amount of discomfort.
So why do I do it?
Because for the past two years I have yielded to the temptation of my warm bed in the morning, and to the temptation of my exhaustion in the evening, and I hated how I felt.
In the short term it was a comfortable existence, unbroken by the misery of dragging my carcass around a tartan track in a
-15�F wind chill. But in the long term, I became more overweight, more sluggish, more pessimistic and more unhappy. What good was that comfort if in the long term I was anything but comfortable with myself?
So although it is hard,
although it sometimes hurts,
although it sometimes takes more willpower than I think I have, I run.
And some days I run for the sheer joy of feeling my legs move and feeling the sun shine on my shoulders, and on other days I run because I endure only one more hour of misery, but am rewarded with 23 hours of contentment and satisfaction with my place in life.
And did I mention the immense and incredibly keen appreciation that I suddenly develop for hot water, warm clothes, and a steaming bowl of stew waiting for me at home?!!
By Lynneth Lohse