Some days everything feels tangled in difficulty and discomfort.  Steps heavy, tasks arduous, thoughts exhausting.

My cure is to run it out.  But one day last week even that felt horrible.  I desperately wanted to head home and wait for day to become night so it could hurry up and bring me tomorrow.  I chose a straight path over a circuitous one to prevent myself from looping around and quitting, believing it would eventually feel good.  It never felt good.  The only way I could get through the run was by focusing on a nearby object and willing myself there.  The next stop sign, the next light post, the next tree.  Stop sign, light post, tree.  Over and over until, finally, it was stop sign, light post, tree, home and I sprinted across my driveway finish line.

Climbing into bed that night, I realized that this stop sign/light post/tree theory could be applied elsewhere in life.  When the road feels painfully long and the home stretch dips elusively below the horizon line, it can carry us where we need to go.

image via http://hannahlaw.com.au