I have quoted my former pastor, Elmer Murdoch many times. "Chose your ruts carefully, you will be in them a long time." I have never forgotten that. It is so true. We are creatures of habit and I think the older we get the more set in our ways we become. My friend Linda, who is over 60 now, is someone who really works at not getting stuck in a rut. For her 50th birthday she began the tradition of hosting an annual bike ride for her friends, followed by a brunch. Each year we were all invited to celebrate the number of years old she was by riding that many miles. How many (now) 60+ year olds do you know riding over 60 miles on their bike in a day. That is what I love about Linda. She lives outside the box. She too said something once I will never forget. She said something to the effect of, as we get older we will have to be so intensional to stretch ourselves to try new things.... not be stuck in our ways... not do the same thing the same way over and over again. I think about this all the time. I don't know about you, but I find myself doing the same thing the same way over and over again. Most of the time it is what makes the most sense to me. For example, my workout routine. I do my cardio first because I hate it the most and want to get it over with. I even tend to use the same machines at the gym each time I am there, the same locker for my gear and even park in the same section each time I go. I am in a rut my friends. Not all ruts are necessarily bad in and of themselves, but changing things up keeps them fresh, unpredictable and can often s t r e t c h us!!!!
So.... tomorrow morning I am heading to the gym to participate in a mini indoor triathalon. Now don't be too impressed. This is totally geared to beginners and I will swim for 10 whole minutes, bike for 30 minutes and then run for 20 minutes. Not exactly an iron woman but for little old me, it is a stretch. That reminds me, I will need to stretch before I begin!!
Well my friend, how will you get out of your rut this week? It does not have to be a monutmental change, a huge feat or an overwhelming accomplishment. It just need to take you out of the familiar to keep you out of a rut you may have been in a long time. So... accept the challenge??? If so, I would love to hear from you...after you have completed whatever you decide you are going to do. Make it bite size. Then reward yourself with a HUGE piece of cake!!!! (just kidding)
By the way, I am still planning to make it to church in the morning. I hate that there are so many things on Sunday that we have lost the concept of Sabbath. That is a subject for another blog at another time!!!!
The whole getting in a rut/being stuck in my ways thing is something I consider fairly often -- especially still being single and wondering how able I would be to handle getting married (not that I'm even dating) when it's already so easy to be set in my ways!! Particularly since I can be the first-born, particular, everything has to be just so, and 3 cross-country moves can make me want to cling to the things I can keep the SAME.
ReplyDeleteAnd work...there's one rut I never wanted to be in. What ever am I doing working at a desk with NO PEOPLE interaction all day? So I went back to school to work on a Master's in Linguistics, but I won't be done for at least another year. So I'm thinking of starting my own business. I've been thinking about it for month now. Working to get up the courage to do it. But it's so DIFFERENT. And it's everything that my current job isn't. It's very new and VERY stretching. So I continue to think about it a lot, and act very little.
Maybe that needs to be the thing at the top of my to do list later this week or next weekend.