I had quite the reality check with this recently. To provide you a little bit of background -a few months ago I started walking regularly in the morning in these frigid temperatures. I take the time to bundle up warmly and venture out to take a 20-minute walk on the icy road.
The walk itself has been therapeutic and I’ve enjoyed every moment of it with the exception of the frigid cold temperature.
Recently on a much warmer day I started out for my regular walk and glanced up at the end of the road - suddenly I stopped. It looked like such a far distance to walk -it was overwhelming, and I paused for a moment and contemplated turning around and going back home.
However, I chose to stay and be curious. I thought I’ve been taking this walk for months now it’s simply 20 minutes 10 minutes down the road and 10 minutes back. Why was this morning so different?
I realized that because of the usual frigid temperatures and iciness; I was previously focusing on where my feet were and huddling up inside my layers of clothing. as a result I was focusing just on 20 to 30 feet in front of me. I was simply enjoying nature and being lost in my thoughts- and then before I knew it the walk was over and I was back home.
This morning the weather was so much nicer my footing was more grounded I looked at the end of the road and it was daunting.
Lesson learned – there is so much value when we focus on the here and now and enjoy what we’re going through.. and stop stressing over what is ahead.
We can appreciate what we can focus on, touch and change. Taking those mindful small steps will get us exactly where we need to go. We will surely set ourselves up for repeated cycles of failure if we look too far down the road for too long – as it simply seems too overwhelming.
