Epiphanies

It's pretty clear that I'm addicted to blogs. It's not that I'm some kind of stalker, dying to peer into others' lives. I am addicted because reading what you all are doing really is motivation for me. As someone not surrounded by particularly athletic people, it helps me to hear what other people have to do to get themselves out the door every morning and stay on pace.

The other reason I've become addicted is because sometimes, I stumble upon a blog where the person on the other end is speaking my language. Literally. Many of you that are linked over here on the left are those kind of people: I read what you write (sometimes about running, sometimes not) and am mystified that someone thousands of miles away has some of the same thoughts as I.

This sort of 'connecting' moment happened today. I found a blogger that said something so poignant, so familiar, about her journey - running and otherwise. The gist of her comments: "I wish I had known in college what I know now ... all I did in college was party, get fat and get into debt ... it took me 10 years to grow up, and now I wonder what the next 10 years have in store now that I've decided to actively participate in my life."

This perfectly sums up how I have been feeling about my own life and my own goals for the past year. If you go back and read my very first blog post, my intentions developed from this same realization. I hadn't been actively participating in my life; I'd been watching it drift by, aimlessly hopping on whatever happened to float by without giving my choices much thought. I think I've done a good job of turning myself around since the beginning of this year. I've set goals, I've accomplished goals. I can look back at the past 8 months, at least, and say I am very proud and very happy with what has transpired. I, too, wonder on a daily basis what the next 10 years will hold now that I've changed my perspective.

I think this post was more for me than you. I had to jot down my feelings about those blunt comments that hit so close to home. I hope the anonymous blogger doesn't mind me semi-quoting her. I'm not even revealing the blog yet because I haven't given her the courtesy of commenting on this post, but soon I will link her up and give you all the opportunity to be equally enlightened.