Don’t Take It Personally

Recently, Angel at Fit and Hungry interviewed me (full interview to come on her site soon). One of the many insightful questions she asked was, “Soon your daughter will be at the age when looks mean everything. Her friends and the media will pressure her to be a certain size and/or envy the people who are that size. What will be your message to her?”

It’s a great question, and you’ll have to read the interview to see how I answered. But, take a look at this one minute video for some insight on the issue:

Moving on…

Ever have those runs where all is right in the world? The wind is at your back carrying you up hills. The air is distinctly clear affording you wonderful views of mother nature. The temperatures have just the slightest hint of fall. The quiet dirt back roads lead to nowhere and everywhere. Possibility abounds. Magical moments occur you enter an effortless zone, where you almost forget you are running  (I said moments. Not miles).

I had one of these rare runs yesterday.

During those six miles, three unrelated things surfaced:

1. A curiosity:

Ever been running, coming up to someone who is walking towards you and when you get to that moment when you are passing them you do the runner’s wave and maybe say, “good morning”? Ever have that person stare you up and down and completely ignore you?

It happens to me a lot. What I don’t understand is how one person can can reach out with a greeting and the other person can make eye contact and not say anything. It’s rude. The only way this would be acceptable is:

• They are so struck by my beauty and grace it renders them speechless (not likely)
• My boob is hanging out again rendering them speechless (at the sheer petite size)
• They cannot speak due to a medical or mental health condition
• They are blind
• They are blind and cannot speak due to a medical or mental health condition
• They come from some culture where it’s illegal to respond back to a greeting
• They don’t like runners or me, specifically
• They are angry, sad, annoyed and it has nothing to do with me.

I learned long ago that it’s a good idea to not take things personally. Certainly there is a time and a place to take things personally like when you cut someone off in traffic and they give you the finger. That finger is for you and you should absorb it and learn from it. But, most of the time when people are cranky and belligerent it has more to do with what's going on with them than you.

What do you think?

2. An observation:

My pace to the beat of the Ramone’s Blitzkrieg Bop is exactly 8:30. I’m going to play this song 105 times during my marathon to keep my stride. Try it. See what yours is.

3. An epiphany:

In the words of SUAR (Shut Up and Run): You do what the day demands.

You plan to run 6 miles. Therefore, 6 miles is what you feel you can do that day. You plan to run 20 miles, and suddenly 20 miles is what you can do that day. For me, my mind sets into motion the expectation for the run and that becomes my ability on that particular run. I don’t really want to go further and I don’t want to do less.

Not greatly profound, but just something that dawned on me.

Don’t take it personally.