not looking too far ahead

[harrigan]

Last week my friend and I had a cottage in Silverdale, close to the Lake District.  One day we left the teens at home and decided to do a walk round the bay to a seaside town called Arnside.  I knew the 5 miles would be tough (for me!) but really wanted to have a go.

It was a beautiful hike with constantly changing scenery - beach, woods, headland, mud flats, estuary etc.  3 miles in and beyond the point of no return, the weariness set in!  I kept looking at the map and saw we still had a way to go, and I was seriously slowing down.  When I looked ahead, the big climb looked daunting and I was getting concerned.  Even though it was fine, there were heavy rain clouds heading our way.

We had a rest break and I realised I had been anticipating the hard bits ahead and missing some of the good bits of 'now'!  How many times in life do I do that??  I started off again with a new outlook, and just to confirm it, there was a perfect ring of delicate little harebells, clinging to a rocky outcrop, which I would have missed if I had been to focussed on the way ahead and not what was at my feet.  Just before the end of the walk, the rain came - and it was lovely!  Only 3 minutes of wonderfully refreshing rain.  I was so hot it felt fantastic and a nice shore breeze dried us off!

So - my plan now is not to keep looking too far ahead at what might come.  It might not, and it might not be as bad as I think.  And I don't want to miss all the good things happening now because my mind is worrying elsewhere.  At the end of every day I want to acknowledge 3 good things and try to stay positive.  Who would have thought a walk could be so revealing?!  XX Ailsa

[Joe S.]

Good attitude!

[Scottietottie]

Hi Ailsa 

I really like that way of thinking. If we decide we can't do something - we are unlikely to attempt it. It might be more of a challenge to us - but it's amazing what we can do. Life is for living.
Have a lot more happy walks!

Take care - Scottie 

[lynnmarie219]

Hi Ailsa,

What a wonderful life lesson to learn from a walk!

And thank you for sharing it with us....it's something that I need to be reminded of on a regular basis...it is so true....we need to look around and appreciate what we have today and at the moment....if we worry about what MIGHT be ahead we miss what we have right now!

Thank you for the important reminder! 

[Bucky]

Ailsa . . . thanks for sharing.  Good for you that you stopped your train of thought of focusing on what was up ahead of you and dreading it and just enjoyed what was all around you at that very moment.  I'm glad you had a good walk with your friend and I hope you take many more in the future!   

I've often heard of people keeping "gratitude" journals . . a place to jot down things they are grateful for . . . . when we feel like nothing is going right - we can go back and be reminded of all the things that ARE right in our lives.

Hugs,
Bucky

[Katybarstool]

Ailsa, thank you for sharing that. It really made me think, which is no bad thing just now I still wish I could walk like that though. Not looking too far ahead, but maybe one day!

Kathyx