This last week has been intersting workout wise. I usually run on the treadmill at the Rec-center every day. I was getting really good at it. The last day I did it I broke my own record and ran 30 minutes straight. I was so proud of myself. I didn't think I had it in me. Then the Rec-center closed for two weeks for their annual cleaning and fixing session. So we moved our workouts to the track outside. Boy was I disapointed when I could not get anywhere near 30 minutes. I have since read that if you want to get the actual running experience on a treadmill, you need to make it incline just a bit. I felt dispair...had I wasted all this time? I sure felt like it. I now had to restart building up to 30 minutes again. I wonder how often I feel like I have not progressed and I am starting all over again when I am actually not. I am running further on the track then I would have if I hadn't been training on the treadmill all this time..incline or not. It may seem like I am dealing with the same trials...some struggles when this time I am stronger and this is a tougher trial but I don't give myself credit for that.
I was telling Tim I like running because I can see progress, I can feel it getting easier and I can go longer. Housework doesn't feel like that. It feels like I am going in circles doing the same thing again and again...with no end. When I am running around a track it isn't very fun either, and it feels like I am running in circles. . .because I am. If I focus on the moment it is a monatanous task, uncomfortable, and difficult. If I look back I can't even see how far I have gone or how much further I have to go, because the track never starts or stops. I am able to keep going because I focus on the long term results.
Perhaps if I could focus on the long term results of having a home that is clean and beautiful, that functions well and that my family is happy to be in...that is strenthening me and my family. Every time I force myself to fold and put away another pile of clothes...or even more difficult, teaching my kids to do it I am learning a little bit about strengthening my will power, to do what I don't want to at that moment. I am learning to endure and be patient for the results. Wait...isn't that called faith?
3 comments:
Those are some great lessons you have learned. I enjoyed the comparison about how you feel like you are going in circles when the dishes pile up over and over again, but, oh wait, as much as you like running, you are going in circles there, too. That made me laugh. Thanks for sharing your insight with me.
Awesome post. And it fits perfectly in to the RS lesson I'm SUPPOSED to be working on right now. See there was a reason I decided to catch up on blog instead!
Great post, although I don't know that I could ever look at cleaning the bathrooms in that light!!
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