Flashlight

A week without posting! I honestly feel like this week has been a blur. So much... everything. Really great moments- with friends, with co-workers, learning new equipment at work (hello, Tricaster!) and finalizing details on the freelance project I've been pouring my time into. Good, good, good.

Even now, my life-friend Hilary is in town for the weekend! Homemade dinners, bike rides, pedicures & lazy Saturday afternoons; precious times with a dear friend, and I'm living in the moment.

And in the shadows, there's been a lot of stress and fear. Friends are losing jobs and dealing with heartache and sickness, deadlines loom, insecurities and doubts arise. Can I pull off the premiere of a pilot in front of 150 people? Will I be able to finish a sprint triathlon in two weeks? Can I handle the pressure at work and beyond?

At times, it's too much. I cry at work. My head throbs. I snap at people I love. I forgo working out in order to put in more hours on everything. And forget quiet time, or "me" time.

Talking to my mom last night, I had one such moment. I was grumpy. I had just left work and had a million and one things to do before company arrived. I was especially unhappy because there wasn't time to do what I wanted to do- only what I needed to do.

And she encouraged me to stop everything, put on my work-out clothes and go for a run. Just go for a run, she said. You need it. You'll feel better. Everything else can wait.

So the sun set over the river, and even though I needed groceries for dinner, I had a bathroom that needed cleaning, a script that needed writing and a spirit that was lagging, I ran.

Miles didn't matter. Speed didn't matter. Training didn't matter.

And, as it usually goes with mom advice, she was right. I needed it. I felt better. Everything else waited- and eventually I got around to it.

Here's what I've concluded: when you're trying to squeeze the most out of life and live every moment God gives you to the fullest, sometimes you get overwhelmed. Things don't always go as planned. Our world gets rocked, and the next day... the bathroom needs cleaning.

So it's nice to have someone in your corner encouraging you to... go for a run.

Whether it's a quiet bath and a glass of wine, catching up with an old friend, raising a toast to coworkers who are by you in the trenches, or yes, taking that spontaneous run- we take our doses of perspective however we can.

The path gets shadowy, murky and unclear sometimes; I'm so thankful God put people in my life who seem to always have a flashlight on hand.