Clouds & my mood at the beginning of my walk  – Photo: L. Weikel

Back in the Saddle

I tend to think of myself as fairly steady overall emotionally. But sometimes I can feel overwhelmed and not have a clear idea of what’s at the source. That pretty accurately describes the trajectory of my day today. As the day wore on, I felt more and more sad, frustrated, and as if I was spinning my wheels in seemingly ineffective efforts to accomplish anything productive. That’s when I realized I needed to get back in the saddle.

I’m a list maker. I like to cross stuff off; it gives me a distinct sense of accomplishment to strike a line through something as simple as ‘mail a package.’ Well, today was not a good day for my list-crossing-out side. In my attempt to cross one such task off my list, I first encountered a line of five people (stacked into the lobby) at my own post office – which then shut down as I ran back to my car to repackage a box I was sending. Undaunted, I ran to a far larger post office about 20 minutes away, only to discover a line of customers 13 people long waiting to send packages.

I let that go until tomorrow.

Nevertheless, it was a lot of spinning of wheels. And that was only one of the items on my list today.

Clouds about half way around – Photo: L. Weikel

Take Five

Karl could see on my face that I was feeling more and more down as the day unfolded. But then I went on my merry postal chase and he knew my attitude was definitely not improving. From afar, he texted me that it might do me some good to do what I would tell him to do: take five minutes to sit with my journal and allow myself to decompress a little.

It was when I ‘took five’ that I realized we hadn’t taken a walk in a full week. Just realizing how much our walks keep me in balance was a revelation. Of course, on many levels I already knew just how critical our walks are to our overall health and harmony. Goodness knows, I’ve certainly written about it enough.

But here it was: in my face. My mood was dark and morose. I needed to walk.

And so we did. And didn’t the atmosphere shift before our eyes as we walked, with my own mood tracking it bit by bit? It was amazing to witness how getting back in the saddle of our physical routine so dramatically lifted my spirits.

And my journey was reflected in the sky.

Clouds nearing the end of our walk – Photo: L. Weikel

(T-409)