This year started for me with a new expensive treadmill assembled in the front room of my house. After a couple days of tweaking to ensure it was set up right, I got on board for my first real workout. At this point of my life the treadmill is necessary to keep my heart strong since it suffered damage due to chemo. So, now I can walk, jog, or run (if I am able) during any kind of weather and season.
Have you ever thought of how absurd the whole thing is though? I mean, it is great exercise and that is the point. But think about this… You walk, jog or run whatever distance you want at whatever speed you want, but you don’t get anywhere. You are still in the same spot you started in. It kind of got me thinking about life. Many of us feel like life is a journey. Sometimes it’s moving slowly like a park stroll where we can enjoy the scenery as we pass by and we can stop to smell the roses. It’s great to be able to be at peace and relaxed, not in a hurry to get anywhere or do anything; to enjoy each moment fully and immerse ourselves in it. That isn’t always the case on our journey though.
At times we need to ‘jog’ here or there, getting kids to appointments and programs, volunteering at school or in the community, helping friends, family and always having to complete whatever job we have in life. This pace seems the most prevalent today in all our lives. We catch glimpses of roses and great scenery, but we don’t have time to enjoy the full beauty of our surroundings or to allow them to envelop our senses.
Of course, in the mix of it all are times we are at a full out run, dashing here or there, trying to get done all the things we need to for us, our family, our work, our friends, in short, our lives. In my opinion, when we do this we are running so fast that there isn’t time to enjoy anything as it is all just a blur in our periphery. So all this movement on our journey begs a couple questions…
Just where do we want to go?
What is it we hope to accomplish in the brevity of our journey?
I think these are important questions we need to answer for ourselves. For in our last breath, very few of us will wish we spent more time at work or effort running from appointment to program. My personal answers to these questions lead me to see that I’m still on the treadmill going fast but getting nowhere. I’ve got to make a change.
I’ve got to get off the treadmill.