I’m a Runner

I’m a runner. Not a physical runner, although I do enjoy it. I am a life runner.

From as far back as I can remember, I have run from my emotions, feelings, conflict and even my own happiness. The question is, why? The answer – fear. Life has shown me that emotions (feelings) inevitably cause pain, conflict is nerve-racking and happiness can be suddenly stripped away without warning. It is those end results that have always caused me to run.

However, recently I have learned that there are situations in life that you can’t run from. Circumstances occur which force you to face yourself and your fears. For several days now, I have been face to face with my emotions and with no way to escape them. For a runner this is terrifying, but certainly necessary and very helpful. Even though the circumstances have been grievous, this time has forced me to learn a great deal about myself. It is odd how such terrible circumstances can open your eyes to the true person within.

My name on this blog is mewhoami and for good reason. I have spent so much of my life running, that often times I question who I am and even where I am heading. But, I believe there comes a time in everyone’s life when they wonder the same thing about themselves. There is no denying however, that I know more about myself today than I did two weeks ago and for that I am thankful. Not thankful for what initially brought me to this place, but thankful for the insight.

Among the many things learned, one of the greatest of those is priorities. Jobs, income and responsibilities are necessary, but nothing in life is more important than the people you love. It may be overused, but the fact still remains that money, jobs and material objects cannot be taken with you. But love goes with you always. For this reason, the people we love should be our top priority.

Throughout this blog, I have often stated how we need to appreciate the time that we have with our loved ones and never take them for granted. When I look back over the years, I wish that I would have spent more time with the people I love and not wasted time on petty things. Furthermore, I wish I would have spent more time living life than running from it.

Life is full of choices and lessons. Sometimes the most important of these lessons are learned when we have no choice but to face our fears and ourselves. Although the circumstances that teach us may be difficult, the lessons are necessary. We can’t change the past, but we can apply these lessons to the future. Needless to say, running from them will certainly get us nowhere.

Lessons learned: Life is short. Keep your priorities straight. Don’t be afraid to face your emotions. Don’t spend your life with your head in the sand. Most importantly, take advantage of every moment you are given with those you love, because you may not have that chance tomorrow.

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{This was written a little over a year ago, and is the first post I’ve ever re-posted. Many of you weren’t around back then, so this will be new to you. For those who’ve read it, please forgive the re-post.}

A fellow blogger wrote a post entitled, Tenacity. In that post, she asked “Do you have any examples of tenacity in your life?”

My answer was: “Tenacity takes a lot of self discipline. I’m a runner. Always have been. I run from life and life’s situations. Standing still and not running away during the hard times is a major challenge for me. That’s where I’m most tenacious in my life. Determined to overcome myself.”

Since her post filled me with many thoughts, some of which were already mentioned in the post above, I thought it would be best to just re-post this one.

I highly recommend that you visit Staci’s blog, and maybe even answer that question yourself. It’s certainly a thought-provoking question.