Lengthen Your Stride

I’ve mentioned before that I’m walking to work these days, but I probably haven’t mentioned that one of my major efforts is to be on time, if not a few minutes early.   I have been doing quite well recently, but usually towards the end of the week it gets a bit harder to get out of bed on time, or sometimes I remember a task that needs to be done that I was too tired to do the night before, so I sometimes end up leaving home a bit later than I had planned.  It has been a lovely week weather-wise, so it is enjoyable walking the few blocks in the brisk  sunshine filled morning air, crunching through fallen leaves and passing by the gory, monster infested,  graveyard decorated yards of some of my neighbors.   But, due to my sleeping in, or trying to do “one more thing” too many, I find myself needing to quicken my step and Lengthen My Stride in order to be to work on time.   

In today’s busy stress filled world, we are often counseled to be careful to not take on too much.  To not overburden ourselves with more responsibilities than we can handle, and to make sure we don’t run faster than we are able.   But maybe sometimes we take that counsel a little bit too far, and don’t actually push ourselves as much as we should.  It’s a difficult balance to find, I know.  But sometimes in a crunch, and sometimes when we haven’t quite measured up to what we should have been doing, I think we do need to quicken our step and lengthen our stride, if only for a few blocks, or hours, or days.  And then, when the task is complete, or we are to work on time, we can sit down and take that extra breath.