With uncertainty about health, in a non-morbid, running-related sense, comes solitude, depression, free time, and a whole lot of positivity. That is, if you let the positivity slide through the pores of uncertainty, which are usually tighter than a drum. Friends, we must trust ourselves, we know it’s what we have to do when we think we may have a sidelining injury: relax. We must try to stay positive. Do something else with our lives than worry. God forbid, clean our rooms! Write a poem. Send a postcard. Bake cookies. Stop evaluating every second that passes like it’s another second to death. Running will save us from a lot of things, but not running will not kill us.
As I wait to know whether I can go full steam ahead with training for Western States 100, I’m trying to practice what I preach. Unlike when I was in college, now, I have perspective to know that my happiness cannot rely on whether I get eight miles in every day. No, no, no, no, no. That’s the ultimate recipe for disaster. My happiness relies on my relationships, my passions, which are more than just running, and my ability to realize that nothing is the end of the world. Maybe except for climate change. We are small fish in a practically infinite ocean. There’s always something way worse than our uncertainties. Not to diminish their importance, but, actually to diminish their importance.
We decide how big and negative our problems or bad luck are; it’s all relative. Thus, I vow that I will loosen my uncertainty pores and let positivity oooooooooze through. I hope that when uncertainty, or certain calamity strikes you, you can do the same.