Things I love - Alley Loop
There are many things I love. One is the Alley Loop. In this race, they take everyone through the alleys of Crested Butte, over several bridges, through a few yards and down main street, Elk Avenue, with no heed for cars. There is something very cool about that and it makes me smile every year.
Tomorrow I do the 5K skate skiing. It’s my first year doing it on skate skis. Should be fun!
Little Things
Just taking the time to appreciate all the little things in my life. Like this little one.
Joy
After being in a bit of a funk all day, my girls climbed onto my feet and would not get off. Even though I could barely walk, I chose to change how I was viewing this. Instead of getting irritated and annoyed, I decided to allow their joy infect me just a little. And that small crack turned into a big one. Before I knew it, my funk was lifting. And only because I chose to let my armor slide momentarily. I’m glad I did.
Fear
Emotions have been on my mind as of late. Mainly because I had that sickening feeling of fear, that feeling that something “bad” was going to happen. Have you had that? And when you look around – as I did – there was NOTHING to trigger that fear? Nothing at all. And yet there’s that feeling of impending doom.
Which got me to thinking about it. How often is our fear truly justified? How often is it really something on the outside of is? Or is it mostly just some old memory that is triggered when we see what is in front of us and because that past thing happened (to us or others) and the outcome was bad, we allow our fear to get the best of us. That’s not to say that the fear isn’t real or felt down to our roots, but rather that if we were to somehow be able to face that fear, allow those emotions to take them over, but still go through with whatever it is, would see see a small piece of that fear lose it’s hold on us? Next time we’re faced with the same situation, would we find that our fear is lessened, lost its hold a bit because we confronted it and let it go?
And how much better off would we be if we faced our emotions head on, allow them to truly take us over and let them go. Rather than stuffing them way down deep inside, as too often we do. Because those stuffed down emotions, they don’t go away. They don’t disappear – even if we’ve forgotten them. They have this way of taking over and making themselves heard at the oddest of times.
Try, for today, to just let your emotions out. Without hurting others, of course. But see if letting them out, letting yourself truly feel them, makes you view things around you differently.
Fragmented
Just feeling this way today. It’s not bad, just unfocused. Distracted. Fragmented.
Goals
Today, the girls and I drove to Montrose to the “big city” to shop. I had little goals in mind – hitting Target, getting out of there within 90 minutes, keeping the girls happy and entertained, etc. And this brought up other goals.
This project, for example. What are my goals? I definitely have some in mind – many I don’t want to share. But one goal is to have fun. Another is to share my thoughts. Keep it thought provoking. But not serious and full of itself. But mainly to have fun.
I like having these goals, they feel like little hands helping guide me along, prodding me to make sure I’m staying true to myself and to the project and not allowing others’ thoughts and views sway me. Goals that have that room for movement make me happy.
Perseverance
To me, perseverance is all about pushing yourself further than you thought you could go. Harder than you’ve ever pushed yourself. Focusing on a goal that seems out of reach. And continuing on even when you feel like giving………
HEY! GET OFF YOUR ASS! YOU’RE RUINING MY SHOT!!! YOU CAN’T QUIT NOW!
Success
This photo still isn’t exactly what I’d like it to be. For some reason, on these cold, damp mornings when all the trees are covered in ice crystals, I’m my breath is taken away. By more than the cold. They are just gorgeous! But not matter how many shots I take of them, I still can’t seem to convey that beauty. This is the closest I’ve come to success, but it doesn’t mean I’ve succeeded. I will continue my quest to take the “perfect” photo of this. And even then, when I have the best photo I can do, does it really mean that I’ve achieved success?
Beauty
Sometimes the beauty just reaches out and smacks you in the face – like today. It was absolutely STUNNING this morning walking Ellie to school. Although I’d planned on adding a photo of her to the project, the beauty of the new snow, the crystal clear views and the low hanging clouds over the mountain just blew me away and I chose to capture that for today instead.
And even though I’ve lived in Colorado for almost 10 years – and Crested Butte for 4 years – I’m still floored by the beauty here. It surrounds me on a daily basis and I never get sick of it.
Sometimes beauty is like that – it’s in your face, almost overwhelming. And sometimes it’s hidden deep and you have to look hard for it. When you look hard enough, though, I find that you can usually find beauty in almost anything.
Just Is
Some days just are. And some photos just are. This is one of those days.
This photo just is. Nothing more to read into it. Or is there?
