Perseverence... Another "P word" Worth Discussing

I hated P.E. when I was younger. I absolutely DREADED running. Even on days where I was feeling particularly spunky, I always found myself wanting to quit running and start walking remarkably soon after I had started. Throughout my teens and college years I tried to run. I joined gym memberships, watched television while on the treadmill, went to the gym with friends, even boyfriends. To date, I think my personal best has been 20 minutes of running time. I can walk for hours, but running has always required a level of perseverance I can't seem to muster.

It occurred to me this week that life in your 30's seems to require a lot of perseverance. Marriage, children, work, keeping your life moving in the direction you want it to go, all requires perseverance. I'm ashamed to admit that historically I strongly prefer activities in which I am already proficient. I have been able to avoid the need for sustained perseverance for most of my life. I pride myself on finding the quickest and easiest route to complete a task, making me useful for efficiency tips but not very strong in the perseverance department. In my 20's I managed to maintain a fun lifestyle without needing a ton of perseverance. Yes, there were days where I didn't want to do something and I still did it, but there weren't extended periods of perseverance. In our early working years the absence of a set plan in life can allow us to look at things as temporary rather than a "long haul".

In your 30's you begin to root into your life. You might buy a home, get married, build a family, build a community, or establish yourself in your career. Once you start on this path, the need for perseverance kicks into overdrive. You make choices to get yourself to a place and once you get there, sometimes the weather sucks. Or it doesn't always look like you thought it would. Some days it is a lot less fantastic than you had hoped even though it is still everything you want. What to do then? Perseverance. I'm still working on being able to run further for longer, working on pushing through the discomfort to keep running. Hopefully in a few years I'll have learned to keep running, and instead of noticing the physical drain, I'll enjoy more of the scenery and feel pride in how far I can go.

Do you believe in magic?

Sorry, I know I just got that song stuck in your head for the rest of the day. I had to do it though. It was just too appropriate. At church on Sunday, the speaker referred to the "magical period" in a relationship when you first fall in love. It got me thinking a little about magic. The world is certainly a wondrous place. Whenever I have traveled, I relish the opportunity to see new parts of the world, and to see surroundings from a curious perspective. I often find myself filled with wonder at the beauty of new places. I'll gaze out on a sea reflecting purples, pinks, oranges and blues from a sunset and be hypnotized by the sheer magic of the scenery.

I'm a parent of two small children, and I started to wonder; if in my efforts to do everything possible to be the best parent I can be, I might be robbing them (and myself) of the opportunity to recognize magical moments in my day to day life. If every action I make is contemplated and controlled, then how can I free myself up to recognize the colors of the world around me? The feeling of a breeze that cools and refreshes on a stifling day can go unnoticed. The recognition that the little people I'm trying to parent were once much smaller and that they have grown SO much in my presence.

I started looking for magic around me, and I found it. I found it in a lot of places. I realized that my magic sensor is closely tied to my imagination, and that the more I use the imagination, the better it works. There are many un-magical things in my day, but in being ready for the moments of pure whimsy, I seem to be creating a space for more of them.

The pediatrician's office isn't necessarily a place where you think you're in for a "magical" time. But while we were waiting for the doctor (for 40 minutes) there was a moment where I saw my son put a toy bear on a little truck and push them around together. He was playing with them functionally, a two-step, functional play moment. For me, it was a MAJOR milestone of how far we've come. We were working on trying to get him to do that like CRAZY last year. And there it was, happening right before my eyes. Hooray!!! Success! I've seen him do things like this before, I've seen him get close to achieving this type of goal, but the manner in which he did it, was spellbinding. It was Magical.

I hope this brief reminder compels you to open yourself up to magic if your life doesn't have much in it right now. If you do have a healthy amount of magic in your day, I challenge you to try and share it with others. The simple act of pointing out something magical, or perhaps just your perspective that shows something in that light, can be a huge gift to the person you share it with.