Happy almost-new year. There’s a lot to think about lately, and I’ve been thinking about running.
When I’m running it’s easy to imagine that I’ve always loved running. I feel like I was one of those kids who was the fastest on the playground, or loved running around open fields, or surprised everyone in gym class. But none of those are true. I was the slowest on the playground and never ran around any sort of field, and if I surprised anyone in gym class it was the bad kind of surprise.
The truth is I started running in college. You didn’t need a key to get into my dorm after 8 am, so once a week at 7:35 I’d put on heavy sweatpants and my Converses and I’d lock myself out of the building.
For 25 minutes I would be trapped outside, with nothing to do but run. Sometimes I would just sit. I hated running, but I also hated sports and organized dancing, and it seemed good to be moving somehow, at least for 25 minutes once a week.
The Converses were obviously a bad idea, but in my defense people talk about them like they’re running shoes.
And at the end of that year - I still hated running. I probably hated it even more. I do not recommend the automatic unlocking door method. But a few years later I started to not mind running, and a few years after that I liked it a little bit, and now I love it so much that it’s hard to remember the beginning of the story at all.
There are some things I’m good at right from the start. And there are some things I’m terrible at right away - most things actually.
When I’m bad at something, it’s easy to want to give up, and spend time doing something that already feels easier.
This year I’m trying to remember the sweatpants and the Converses and the doors that unlocked at 8 every morning. Some of the things I’m going to be good at are hard at first.
There are some things I’ll always be bad at. But there are also things that just take a lot of luck and practice. Someday I might like them so much that if people ask if it was always easy, I’ll have to work hard to remember the bad parts.
You news you lose:
There isn’t really much news this week, sorry.
If you’ve ordered plushies and they haven’t arrived, check your tracking info. Things have been a little wild with international mail lately, some plushies made it all the way to Australia before other ones made it just a few miles to Canada. But if it seems like yours should have arrived and they haven’t, send me an email and I can help fix it!
Sad Animal Facts planners are useable in just a couple days.
I hope you’re safe and well, and that you’ve seen some good animal recently, maybe a fox or some sort of bird.
Did the chess piece turn into a robot?
I hate running but I’m happy for your success. And this message is exactly what I need right now.