Saturday, April 2, 2011

Perspective.


For the last 6 months we've had and interloper at our running group. Deb was here in Brisbane with her husband and family from England while her husband worked. Deb used to run - A LOT - in England and Europe but had had surgery on a foot injury then had twins and the running had not been happening so much lately. She met one of our members who enticed her along and soon she was running 5 times a week.

Her husband's contract finished and she's heading back home this week but I was lucky to get to run with her for our long run on Saturday. It was such an eye-opening experience to run with someone who's mentally saying good-bye to a place she's fallen in love with. I got to run through our usual routes looking through her eyes and really appreciating how beautiful our city is and how lucky we are to enjoy such good weather year round. Even the muddy Brisbane River looked better to my eyes than it has in a long time.

It's not been the first time this week that I've had to look from someone else's perspective. I had my sister-in-law over last weekend and I was looking very critically at my house through my own eyes before she arrived. I wanted everything to look nice and all I could see was the mould, the dirt, the dog hairs and all the imperfections that I can ignore every other day of the year. I had even apologised in advance about the state of the house. When she arrived she told me off for exaggerating and I realised that she wasn't here to critique our home, she just wanted to spend time with her family.

Both events have made me stop and think. It's so easy to get caught up with nit-picking or to ignore the familiar just because you see it all the time. I'm determined to spend a little more time being less self-absorbed and appreciating my life, my family and my surroundings.

13 comments:

  1. Good post! Yes, I agree, it does help to look through someone else's perspective from time to time...
    Last year my husband was on the short list for a 4-year posting to Washington, and while we were waiting to find out if he got the job or not, I found myself looking at everything around me with a completely different attitude, much more awake! In the end he didn't get the job, so I am back to my usual complacent self in the meantime. So thanks for the reminder!

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  2. Yes, this is a good post. I try to appreciate what I have even though there are places/runs I envy. My run views aren't too shabby.

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  3. awesome post.

    I completely freak when I have company.

    Feeling I'll be judged by them if all isn't perfect ----- I couldn't be/have been more wrong.

    awesome.
    awesome
    post.

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  4. Interesting post, Char! I completely agree with you. We sometimes run in our real life. I always try to think my family, my job, my running friends. But I would need to stop e think my surrondings.
    Thanks for this great post|

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  5. Such true words! We all sweat the small stuff when there's no reason for it. Glad you had some quality time with family and your friend who is leaving.

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  6. Great goal Char! This is so big with me too! I become so self focused sometimes that I have to constantly remind myself to stop, look around, and really just soak up what is around me and be fully present!!! So hard to do and always always thankful for the reminder. Great insights and thoughts today Char! Thanks for your comment on my recap...means a lot. :) On that note, I think I will get off the toilet where I have escaped to drink my coffee and respond to comments and I'll go start the day with my kids. :)

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  7. Love the post! Been working with someone who's been helping me with my injury and I'm trying very hard to not worry about the things I cannot control! It's not easy but I'm getting there.

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  8. This is a great post and a valuable reminder!

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  9. Thanks for this post! I’ll be sharing it with someone. Great timing from your side! I was mostly on the small (domestic) animal side with some farm animals and here in Africa always some strange wild creatures. Still love it, but more as a hobby. Do it for the love of it you know. Don’t want to make money/a living by doing it.

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  10. Great post and something we can all learn from.

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  11. So true and what a great reminder. We all need to smell the roses a little more I think.

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  12. Beautiful post, it makes me think about the life.

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