"It is amazing what you miss sitting
home on the couch."
After the Moon in June race a TP member sent me an email with the above statement and I asked her permission to share it with you all. This was from a woman who never imagined herself treading along the waterfront with a pair of dumbbells and certainly not powering through a night race with the white lights on Brant Street creating magic all the way to the finish line. When I look at her face each class, I see the freedom that comes from erasing feelings of regret by committing and doing.
"I wish I had....if only....why didn't I?"
We are really tough on ourselves, regretting emotions we never felt or opportunities we didn't understand. But sometimes there are actions we don't take because they require a lot of careful attention and planning, and like our TPer above, a whole lot of sweat and guts. My own regrets usually go something like this, "Kids, this school year I'm going to...." or "This summer it's going to be different..." and then I realize a few weeks later that I didn't follow through. Over this past year, I've become very aware of that fact that I am being watched by my children and that if I expect them to give their best and fulfill spoken commitments, I need to do the same. I will never be perfect and we all need down time, but there are dreams and life events that simply won't be realized by sitting on the couch.
The picture with this email is a portion of an organic vegetable garden the kids and I planted this spring. I did not want the garden idea to be another of my unrealized summer promises and so before I uttered the idea to the family, I literally visualized the hours of weeding, fence creation, and watering ahead. I had attempted a garden at our first home and it was a disaster because I didn't know that you actually had to come home each day and look at it. As we cut the ever-growing heads of broccoli and eat fresh lettuce each day, I really am happy that I can cross an item off my regret list and it makes me wonder what's next to be tackled...hmmm.
Whether it's getting your butt out of bed to eat a healthy breakfast instead of regretting the 600 calorie muffin you grab on the way, stuffing your feet into running shoes instead of hearing about the great class you missed or following through on a family commitment instead of explaining why you didn't really mean what you said, don't miss out on amazing yourself and keeping your regret list to a teeny-tiny post-it note (cause I need somewhere to log that grade 7 green mascara and grade 12 peach prom dress).
See you all out this week,
Sue
|
