Doing It Anyway, Dammit
Yesterday, I decided to go for a run. The weather was perfect, I had a handy-dandy, new pedometer to measure distance and an excuse to be down town, near the river park, which is perfect for running. Sounds nice, doesn’t it? Things went
Perfect for walking and jogging...
badly from the start.
First, I am currently covered in hives. If you’ve never had hives, add that to your list of shit you’re grateful for. Because, whether you know it or not, you are glad you’ve never had hives. The hives began appearing last Thursday or Friday, in their normal spot on my chin. I wasn’t worried until one of them began to grow and showed no signs of letting up. It would have been smart to start taking Benedryl at this point, but noooooo….. The nasty little blisters spread up my face next. I thought it was just a slightly worse case of the itchies than usual. Silly dava.
Next they spread down the other side of my face, behind my ears, on my scalp and down my chest. Then one of my eyes started itching and I started to worry. A hive in the eye? No, thanks! By Sunday night, I was scratching like crazy woman, and FINALLY decided it would be prudent to take some Benedryl. Duh.
The hives are part of an allergic reaction. I have no idea to what, but usually they appear in May and I think either privet or Bradford pear blooms are the culprit. This is the first time they have shown up in the fall. Besides hives, I also get an upset stomach, the shakes, endless headaches and mild heart “flutters” as my grandfather (who has the same sort of problems) says.
Deciding to go for a run wasn’t an earth shaking decision, but I did have to think about it. I had no idea if sweat would make the hives worse or if I would get all shaky and sick somewhere in the middle. Besides being hivey, I was overdressed. I live on a mountain and it was much cooler at home than in the valley. Then, my brand-spanking-new pedometer didn’t work. It said I had only gone 2 miles after an hour, less than half my normal pace. Just to top it off, my shoes made blisters at the base of my big toe on both feet.
It was miserable. By the time I got home, all I wanted was another dose of Benedryl to stop the headache.
Still, I was glad I went. It’s so easy to just not do something when you have an excuse like hives or headaches. But then, after you don’t do whatever it is, you feel bad about it, like a slacker. Feeling like a slacker in addition to itching all over really is the definition of misery! Regardless of the goal, doing something to get closer to it helps, even if you aren’t in the mood at that moment.
You might not feel better about it immediately, but you will later. You’ll look back and think, “Wow. I’m glad I made those 50 cold calls! I wouldn’t have these 4 new clients if I hadn’t.”
Have you ever done something you needed to do, even if the circumstances were less than ideal? Were you eventually glad you did, or did it backfire for you?
You went for a run with hives, a headache and an upset stomach?? Wow, now I really feel terrible for blowing off a little copywriting just because I wasn’t feeling especially creative. Thanks for the encouragement-slash-rebuke!
Robert – Well, the part I didn’t say was that it was my first run in over a week…not such a great record for someone who is supposed to be training for a half marathon! I hope that you enjoyed the time you took when you “should” have been writing. Sometimes, for the sake of creativity and productivity it really is entirely necessary to blow off some work – no rebuke intended!
Jake – “Just friggin’ do it!” is something I say to myself remarkably often. Sometimes it works, like with Monday’s run and sometimes it doesn’t, like with cleaning the bottom of my refrigerator. A little progress sure does feel better than no progress, though.
There is something to be said for “gutting it out,” both in athletic pursuits and business projects. As you point out, once you’ve taken the first step toward something–anything!–it makes it a lot easier to finish it. That’s why I’m not a big believer in writer’s block, as a concept or an excuse. Just friggin’ do it.