Daily habits: Write it down, run it out. Encourage one another!

Write it down, run it out. Encourage one another!

Most evenings I sit in bed with my lap top or when the words really fly I sit with a pen and paper.  I write it all out.  I write my emotions and my plans, often my shopping list, on good nights my dreams, my regrets (ugg yes those are the fun nights), my memories and my favorite is to make my list of people and things I love.  I write letters to my friends and to my family that I will never send and some that I do share. Some that I send later in a text message or read the bullet points off in a phone call, and some that I hand deliver with a drawing or a doodle on the envelope to cover up the stain from my tea or wine I spilled while writing. Sometimes they get delivered wound up like a rung out towel, because I slept with it in my hand. I write letters to my best friend, Steff, that I lost last year and in moments alone in our favorite spot I sink them in the water a place where we hold so many memories. In the evening my emotions are raw as my mind is tired and cannot filter or logic them away. I let them run across the paper rather than across my day.  Writing them out makes them real and makes me acknowledge I am real.

Each morning I promise myself that I will "run it out".  I promise myself that I will take care of myself so that I can take care of others.  Running has always brought me a high and comfort that brings clarity to the chaos of my brain. Running has never failed to give me great end results, and that's why I keep coming back for more! I bargain with myself against my weaknesses that I must care for myself before I cave, before I let my chaotic thoughts rule my day.  I tell myself that I cannot have coffee until I have a solid plan for exercise.  And I love coffee! I don't allow bargains the other way, if I start to feel the plan isn't solid for exercising later I do a body weights workout immediately. It's my commitment to me. The day of the photo to the left I ran my "adult life" PR 10k.  The run started with text from a friend finding me in sadness; she stated, "Get to the gym and run!", she knows running is my sanity.  I ran hard with lots of tears as my emotions were high and when I saw the clock on my treadmill, I settled and felt pride had blanketed my sadness.  It can't take the sadness away, but running helps me for sure.

I run out in my workouts all that I write out the night before.  Sometimes I carry the writing with me and read it back to myself or share it with others; sometimes that happens mid-workout.  Sometimes I run around the lake and meet my memories with Steff and I sit with her memory and the words she encouraged me with and made me believe in me with.  I have surrounded myself with people that love me and encourage me in this, motivate me and hold the standards high so I know I have to work to reach them.  My list is long of things I used to share with Steff.  Writing, running and encouraging are three that we loved to share together. 

Steff and I after finishing our first Triathlon

Encouraging one another was our daily habit to each other and the main reason why I am writing this blog post.  I hope by sharing my habits I can share encouragement for others to do the same. Yesterday I had a conversation about a young man asking questions about someone's well being.  The young man pointed out some reasons why he was concerned and just let the adult know that he noticed and was worried.  I am sure the adult was maybe a little embarrassed the kid had noticed reasons for concern, but I think more so the adult was grateful that someone cared and more than that grateful that someone cared enough to ask.  I could say the kid was brave to ask, but I don't think the kid felt brave, he just cared so much he had to ask.  He cared enough that he had to offer encouragement and understanding, because the risk of not asking could have left the adult alone in his troubles.

In the timeline of Steff and I's friendship I missed talking to her only a couple of days while she was traveling.  She checked in on me everyday outside those couple days and she built me up and I returned the love right back to her.  We always ended long chats with letting one another know we loved each other and after we hung up the phone or arrived at home we secured our encouragement with a text message reminder and wrap up of encouragement. (Write it out) She encouraged me to be me and made me secure in my belief that love always wins, showing up for everyone with love is always the right choice. Even when it's uncomfortable, love always wins.

Finish line of Steff Strong Race

Steff was my faithful encouragement and she loved running and she loved running with me.  I know she loved running with me because she told me every time we ran together :) (Encourage one another) She was always seeking greatness in herself and in others.  She has many medals from her achievements in running events, however, she really wanted to conquer the 10K distance.  I have always been in love with the half marathon distance and I tried to push her into that love with me and she did achieve that feat twice and she was so proud.  For some reason there are not a lot of 10K races in our area and she really wanted to check this box off her race list, so she said she was going to create her own.  Steff wasn't here with us, but she did create her own.  We have the Steff Strong 10k/5k and kids run established as an annual event in Steff's honor.  In it's first year the event did the all three topics of this post by the 100's.  People that had never ran were encouraged to get up and do a 5k and many that had never thought of doing a 10k achieved it! People literally from around the United States ran it out in her honor in her hometown!  Then finally social media exploded with posts of encouragement, success, pride as people wrote it down! 

Hope to see you all next year at the Steff Strong event. Save the date: September 9, 2017....write it down and encourage your friends to run it out! ;)