December 14, 2016 TAKE IT EASY

Feeling pretty stressed out this week mostly because I haven't been able to run--compound that with getting ready for Christmas, a list of presents I still need to buy,  midterm exams to administer and correct AND  grades are due--BREATHE. I really need a run but it's not going to happen until tomorrow. This is day three. It's bad.  It's really hard for me to go more than two days without a run because I start to feel anxious and my mind works overtime. Then I get sad--because many people are coping with all kinds of tragedies this holiday season and I can't help them.  Remember when your kids were little and they really thought a bandaid or kiss fixed every problem or boo boo?? How I long for those days again--but the reality is-- we have such little control-- life is complicated and most problems can't be fixed with a bandaid--we have to learn to live and cope with them. And that's the hard part. These days when people ask me what I want for Christmas--it's simple-- I just want everyone healthy and happy. What more is there in life?? So tomorrow when I finally get my run in--I will put everything back in perspective. I can't help those facing tragedy this holiday season, but I can try to be the best version of myself and be thankful for all that I have.

I think Antoine De Saint-Exupery's little book A Guide for Grown-ups Essential Wisdom from his collection of books really captures the meaning of life and puts everything in perspective. Saint-Exupery was a pilot, a patriot, and  an award winning writer of several books including The Little Prince, Wind, Sand and Stars and The Wisdom of the Sands. He had an interesting life including crashing a plane and wandering around the Sahara Desert in 1935, as a patriot during WWII leaving occupied France to seek aid from America and finally in 1944  disappearing over the Mediterranean on a reconnaissance mission--to name a few. What interested him most was the human condition which is a theme that appears in all of his novels. He wrote about friendship, duty, happiness, love,  responsibility, and fortitude. A Guide for Grown-ups is a collection of quotations from Saint-Exupery's body of work that are not only beautiful but inspirational. One that  always sticks with me is, "One sees clearly only with the heart. Anything essential is invisible to the eyes." How true. Anyways, I read this book every once in a while and it makes me smile. It's a great gift for a college graduate because Saint-Exupery captures the essence of what is really important in life. This book is only about 60 pages--a 2 mile leisurely run--that will stick with you forever. Enjoy!