Running and Being

The problem is that I have done much more being than running lately. I am still on the road. I am eating more than I should and not exercising. This combination is not a good one. I am having a great time, but I miss the family. I wish they could be here to see all the sights I am seeing.

Thursday night, I’ll be on a plane back to the sweltering heat of Austin, TX. I just got off the phone with my wife. In less than 24 hours, I’ll be asleep in my own bed.

Life is going great and I think it all has to do with perspective. I choose to be happy in what I am doing. I love my job. I am learning something new everyday. I have a bunch of kids that still think I am great. I have a beautiful wife that adores me. I have in-laws that I actually love to be around. I have nothing to complain about. All is good.

As part of my reading, Dr. Sheehan wrote, “Shakespeare was wrong. To play or not to play: that is the question. Anyone with a sense of humor can see that life is a joke, not a tragedy. It is also a riddle and, like all riddles, has an obvious answer: play, not suicide”

What he is saying is that the question “to be or not to be” is nothing more than an eloquent contemplation of suicide. You are. In other words, if you are reading this you have chosen “to be.” Good choice. In his interrogative: to play or not to play, Dr, Sheehan is pointing out that we have a choice how we spend the time between being and not being.

The person in the most perfect form is the child. The child doesn’t “know” enough to think of himself as foolish for acting on impulse and imagination. The child is not inhibited by social etiquette that limits volume and speed. My kids play at full speed until they drop. My youngest is the best example of this. We find him asleep in some of the strangest places. There is no moderation. 100mph until you run out of gas. That’s the joy of acting like a kid.

I get the same feeling from running. There is no work, no deadlines, and no politics to distract me when I am running. There is only me and the road. Sometimes I listen to my mp3 player, but often I run without it so I can hear the birds, my feet hitting the pavement, and the other sounds that people in their cars just don’t hear.

I’ll be back for more. For now, I am heading to bed.