Running's OK, Even Good Sometimes

I know that in a previous post I talked about how you can’t run away from your pain even if you try to. I want to expound on this and add that I don’t think it’s always bad to attempt to run. I know that if I’m not ready to confront things, I yearn for the run. I want to just go, go, go, to be in an in-between space where I am neither here nor there. In this kind of liminal state, I am free, briefly. I am free to not think about my problems or to think over them at my leisure. Whatever the case may be, the point is that I’m removed from some of the sources of my problems for a bit–homes that contain stresses, people who are making me anxious, reminders of all that I have to get done. I don’t mean to blame everything that goes wrong on everyone but me. Because I definitely contribute to my own unhappiness, and I’m sure that I add to some other people’s problems. But, that’s the kind of mentality of the run that makes it so appealing. It’s giving yourself a little bit of a break. Giving yourself that car ride and fifteen to whatever many minutes you need to feel a little sorry for yourself, regardless of whether this is “right” or not. A time for you to really unashamedly feel what it is you are feeling. Maybe you do feel like a problem is being caused by someone else. Well, during the run, feel it, whether fair or not. Let the emotions course through you. Or, tune everything out. Turn up the music to drown out your mind’s incessant analysis of life’s problems. Stick your arm out the window and focus on feeling every detail of the breeze, that’s all that really matters right now. Or, maybe you’re hot. Roll the window up and turn the ac on then! And don’t feel guilty about it. The run is not the time to feel guilty. It is the time for you. And you better use it well because we all know that when it’s all over, reality will be right there waiting to greet you as soon as you step out of the car door. And then you can go back to being more logical and perhaps less self-centered and blaming yourself and/or being fair and whatnot. If we don’t run though, we don’t have this period to re-charge, and we remain just as damaged as ever. Run, once in a while, I say. Run away from the pain so that you can better deal with it later.