Wasn't running alone and enjoying it enough? Did it need to be coated in gold and covered on every newspaper from here to the North? As Mike tied up his trainer he warmed up ready for his early morning run. The air had a stiff chill to it, the ground was covered in patches of ice, he had to be careful not to slip in these conditions or it could bring his dreams crashing to the ground with him.
Mike didn't run for a job, he didn't even want to run for a living, he wanted to run because when he did he felt an immense amount of freedom, a way to let go and to enjoy the few scarce moments of his day that he got to himself.
People wondered why he didn't enter marathons or train for the Olympics, hell knows he was good enough, but Mike would shrug it off uttering that it would take the heart out of it, if it became something necessary, something that must be done. Something to be achieved to a certain level for glory or praise.
Mike worked hard at his job in the city, he gave to charity, he had good friends and a pet dog. He wasn't a millionaire and he didn't take more than his share from life, he simply lived and loved. People couldn't understand that need to run, even in the ice, they thought it must be working towards something because otherwise why bother.
Mike's dream wasn't to be an athlete, it was to run his own company. He wasn't worried about slipping in ice resulting in a knee injury rendering him unable to run, he was worried about slipping in the ice for fear an injury may stop him from being fit enough to work, meaning he would lose precious time starting and growing his business. He wasn't a workaholic, he was just a man who had found what he wanted to spend his time doing, he wasn't going to let a fear of falling stop him from doing the other things he loved.
It's easy in life to let the things we want to do stop us from doing the smaller things, for fear they may stop the big thing happening. To live in fear is to not live at all. If anything life is uncertain, sometimes it throws us a life jacket and others a straitjacket.
There are times when we feel we cannot push forward but we must, it is in those times of trial that we grow ever more resilient and strong. Allow yourself to understand patience for you will need it, be compassionate and understand that your view may not be that of another, it doesn't make one of you wrong, it just means you have differing opinions. Things do not stay the same forever, people, the world and the universe are changing every moment of every day.
As soon as we are born we are growing yet dying at the same time, we are creatures of comfort and of adventure, we crave variation yet rely on routine. We are the race of irony.
So don't worry what others are up to, or that you don't really know what you want to do, we are each different and each feel happiness in our own way.
I don't pretend to understand the world around me, I just try to make sure that each day I am doing something and seeing someone that brings a smile to my face, so that when I look back, the moments of joy are the ones I see. They may be little in size but victory is victory and the smallest can have the largest of reactions.
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