Today and only today

Treating yourself well should be a given. We have only one body in which to live our life, and it will last only as long as we allow it. Physical, spiritual and mental well-being should be essential to our daily existence.

Some people spend more time on their car than they do on their body. They spend countless hours washing, polishing, shining, vacuuming, gassing up, driving and admiring their vehicle, and then turn around and light up a cigarette and shovel some junk food into themselves. Then they wonder why they aren’t happy with their life. Priorities are twisted in today’s world.

I thought of this as I went for a run this morning. Since I am not officially training for anything until October, I decided to just run and take in the morning. After a week of soaring temperatures this morning was cool and breezy – almost as if it was meant for me. I am not a heat runner so summers are difficult for me to train efficiently. I took this temperature drop as a sign, so laced up the shoes and headed out on my usual 10 mile route. I quickly got into the zone and realized that I had not run since last Tuesday (that’s five days ago!). It felt great. The feel of my blood pumping was like burning the carbon out of my engine, clearing my veins and straightening out my head. There were just too many things going on in that brain and I needed to organize, tidy and let go of them.

After six miles I slowed down and walked through the park – admiring the power of the muddy Red River to my left, the beautiful English Gardens to my right and the towering elm trees shading me from above. I breathed in the clean air, deep breaths, and exhaled the stresses, the loneliness I was feeling, the tiredness I had woken up with, and replaced it all with gratitude. Not only was I caring for my physical being, but my mental one as well. At seven miles I began to run again, a renewed sense of self and purpose taking over. I thought of the dinner for one I had made for myself last night – treating myself well. For if you refuse to do it for yourself, you can never expect someone else to.

I write this with more of an uplifted spirit than I have had in days. I have been able to approach each day singly, focusing on just the day, and what I want it to bring to me, and also what I can give back. Today I will spend with a friend who is more like a sister; we will visit another friend who is going through chemotherapy, and try to bring a beam of light to his face. Today I will smile at everyone I see, even if they cut me off in traffic. Today I will focus on today, and only today. And tomorrow? Well, wait until I get there.