Saying YES to Life. Saying YES to Detours.

Yes.
An affirmative answer or decision.
Yes.
Such a simple three letter word.  But such a powerful one.  Saying yes means we are embracing something.  We are accepting it.  We are in agreement.  Yes.  The word just comes sometimes without even thinking about it.  Like when I'm listening to a message or reading a section in a book that resonates with me on a deep level...Yes.  Or it came today when I was reading my friend Petra's blog (as it often does with her blog).  Yes, yes, yes...those words came to me as I read about her travels and resolutions.  I nodded in understanding when I read about her intentions for life.  Yes.  The word came and I didn't even realize that the title of her post was "Yes".  

Since the new year, I've definitely been in Yes Mode.  Saying YES to living.  Saying YES to life as it comes my way even when it scares me.  Even when I'm led to take a detour of sorts.  After all, it is the detours in life (literal and figurative) that take us in ways we never would have gone before.

How many of us have been driving along on our normal routes, eyes glazed over because we've done it so many times....not noticing much around us...just doing what we do day in an day out, only to be stopped in our tracks by the orange construction signs and roadblocks.  Detour.  At first we are frustrated.  Thoughts of being late or inconvenienced cross our mind.  But in the end we get to our destination.  And you know, so many times, during my detour, I've noticed things I'd never seen before if I'm relaxed enough to go with the flow and look around instead of grumble and have a scowl on my face.  I've been forced to drive through neighborhoods or down streets that are completely new to me.  Many times it proves to be just a drive but sometimes it opens my eyes to something else that ends up changing my perspective or gives me a new idea about something else.  Sometimes those detours end up giving me ideas for other things that I might not have thought of.  I might notice a small business that I hadn't known about before, or a section of neighborhood with beautiful homes, a path that I had no idea I could have been running on...so much.  In the end, I'm usually glad for the detour in some way.  It woke me up.  Got me out of my daily grind and forced me to do something new even if it meant that I was only driving down a street I'd never been on before.

Detours and saying YES is all about where I'm at today.  Monday, January 14th.  I'm saying yes to life as it comes.  Finally, the things I've been telling myself over the last few years are sinking in when it comes to really owning up to the goals I set.  Going easier on myself, not taking myself too seriously, enjoying running just for running, taking chances and dreaming big, getting rid of guilt, training smart...these things (that Petra also mentions in her blog..another reason I LOVE)...I'm getting the hang of these things more than I ever have before.  And not running the past few days really hasn't been all that bad.

I've said from the beginning of this training cycle that my main goal was to run happy and enjoy the process.  Do I have goals?  Yes.  But is it the actual marathon race time that determines the success of this training?  No, absolutely not.  This training for me is about having something in my life to keep me driven and working towards being my best self.  It is about finding peace and clarity through running during a time where we are in the process of "Daring Greatly" with our adventure move to North Carolina for a bit.  So, from the get go, my goal has been to be SMART and listen to my body.  And I'm happy to say that I'm doing that.  Even when it means that being smart means taking that DETOUR.

Last week, my hamstring started shouting at me that it just wasn't ready to run.  So since then, my days have involved lots of rolling, stretching, icing, epsom salt baths, KTape, swimming, pool running, cycling, and positive thinking.  It has been such a freedom this time around to just accept this detour and enjoy the process that it leads to. To not take this training thing and myself too seriously. In the past, things would have been so different.  I would have seen this setback in such a different light.  Glad for the perspective shift and the peace that has come with the new year.

I'm glad for posts like Petra's that make me want to say YES to Life AS IT COMES...not necessarily as I WANT it to come. Even though a lot of it just as I want.  And I'm happy.

 I'm saying YES to the detours in life.  Because when we really stop to think about it, the detours ARE life.  The Detours are where some of the greatest living and lessons come from.  

This was a goal for myself written in my journal from many months ago.

What's something you are saying "YES" to in your life right now?  Or a detour you can say "YES" to instead of seeing as an inconvenience?  

Amanda