Fight or Flight

In circumstances where I am faced with a fight or flight decision, I will usually take option C. Curl up in a ball. I am not competitive and I am most certainly not confrontational. But this spills over into other non-challenging areas of my life. For instance, if we were meant to meet for a workout and you are not able to make it, I too will likely skip. I will take the softer, cushier perhaps less bumpy road.

The other day I was looking forward to 3 hours with just myself and Piper. I had planned on going for a big walk, but the weather had gone sideways; snow and sun, snow and sun, on and off all day long. The fire was on, I was in comfy clothes and I really could just have made some tea and done some knitting. Then I remembered a lovely sunny day recently where a friend wanted to go for a walk and I was tired and would have been more than happy to sit in the sun and have a cup of tea, but we went for that walk and it was so lovely and all the children came with us and we had a great time. So, snowy weather be damned, I was going to go for a walk. I pack up Piper in buggy, put on her "bubble" (rain cover) and headed out. She was asleep with in just a few blocks. I kept going, my goal, the ocean, about 25 minutes away. I could have turned back, put her in her bed and spent a quiet afternoon alone, but I pressed on. The weather continued changing, so did I, coat on, coat off, etc., etc. When I reached the ocean, it was sunny and calm, I walked along the waterfront for quite a while before turning back to home.

I felt so exhilarated, it was truly quite a beautiful day and I feel so fortunate to live close to the ocean. I could see large clouds of rain blowing in farther up the coast, while beams of sun streamed through the dark clouds. I love the sound that the ocean makes as it rolls in and out over the pebbled beach. I was not too cold and not windy. The good and bad thing about going for a long walk away from home is that you have to walk all the way back home.

It was a good walk and I got to admire all the blossoming trees. I was really glad I had fought the urge to just curl up and take it easy. It seems that sometimes we just really need to give our selves that little extra push and it will all be worth it.