Running methaphor for life

I like to go where no man has gone before during my runs. Unfortunately this means getting lost often, because my Inner Garmin is always on the fritz.

Getting lost along the way: as it is in running, so it is in life

Yesterday I hitched a ride with my husband into town, and decided I didn't want to take the boring way home. I had this vague notion about running 'a bit that way' and: 'If I turn to the right somewhere I 'll be on familiar territory again.' Except I wasn't.

Looking around me, I did not recognize anything familiar in my surroundings. I turned to the left, hoping for the best. Getting lost does wonders for my pace by the way. Because I get all stressed out, I can't help but run faster. So there I was, galopping away, when I recognized something. 'I think I know where I am!' I whispered to myself.

Running methaphor for life

And suddenly, those same surroundings that moments ago had send me into a panic, wondering if I would ever see my loved ones again, made sense.

'Ahaaaa!' I thought. 'Nów I get it!' Unexpectedly the once unfamiliar streets made sense, like pieces of a puzzle. And that's when I realized how this experience is much similar to life.

Sometimes life takes you places where you had no intention of going, that make no sense at all. It can make you feel quite lost. But then suddenly, you find your footing again, and what was once frightening and unfamiliar suddenly starts to make sense.

Like when I couldn't find a job after getting my PhD in psychology. That was not what I had planned, and I felt quite lost. But looking back I can see how this led to me becoming a mother, and then a blogger.

And now I can make a living by writing and I have five lovely children.

So life took me to a way of life much better than I could ever have planned myself.