Distance: 4 miles
Start time: 5:00 am
Run Duration: 44 minutes
Pace: 11 minutes/mile
Temperature: 81 degrees
Humidity: 78%
Location: Memorial Park, Houston, TX
"Pay Attention". I keep those words in a frame in my apartment. I keep those words on the inside cover of the scut notebook that rides in my left lab coat pocket at work. I try to keep those words in front of me as I start each day. This being said, just because something is noted momentarily, it doesn't necessarily deserve prolonged attention. Discernment on that issue is the key, isn't it? Otherwise I'd be much like the raccoons that hang out in the garbage bin at my apartment complex - infinitely fascinated with a near-empty tin that once held pork and beans.
I've had many opportunities to pay attention lately. Two stand out for me this morning. I know a married couple, ToddAndVali. That's what we call them, because they're such a...Pair. Anyway, at Happy Hour last week, Todd asked me if I am training with a running group. I pretty much shrugged him off, offering excuses about time, inconvenience, me being a loner, yada, yada, yada. I will tell you that this job of curing cancer is really not conducive to an organized training schedule. We work long hours and surgery waits for no one. There's no way I can afford to be late for work. So after his eyes glazed over (Todd does that when he's bored), he looked at me and said, "You really ought to be changing up your mileage, you know. A group would help. But you'll do what you want to do." Then he turned back to his beer.
Next opportunity to pay attention: I've booked yet another vacation. I'm going to get out of this town if it kills me - and it might. That, or I'll go broke trying. I let some of my friends know and a few questioned why I'm traveling so much. I told them I just need to be "there, not here." Scott Newsom (of ScottAndTeri) said, "Comes a time in every relationship where disillusionment sets in. That's the opportunity for deepening knocking on the door." Scott's a psychologist. We have a social relationship, not a professional one. What he said could be applied to so many aspects of my life. I'm going to pay close attention to him. He is wise, Austin-weird, but wise.
Today I recognize the wealth of knowledge that surrounds me and I am grateful that my friends are willing to coach me in their own way. I am blessed.
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When you say "get out of this town", do you mean "vacation" or do you mean "moving"? 'Cuz that's two very different things, and the one won't lead directly to the other, not unless you do something a whole lot more determined.
ReplyDeleteBoth, vet. Both. For now, I'm settled on vacationing, but I'm working toward a move. There are factors that keep me here a little while longer.
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