Kerri On Down The Road

 Out of curiosity, what word would you place in that blank space?  I will admit that for me, worst is the word that automatically comes to mind.  No hesitation or second thought, I automatically lean towards problem-solving around worst-case scenarios.  Who's with me on this? Speaking from the I, this practice has come from a place of trying to protect or prepare myself from being hurt or blindsided.  A long time ago I seem to have made a choice that I would rather think and focus on all that could go wrong instead of all that could go right.  If I figured out all of the hurtful or negative outcomes and determined a course of action or reaction to those, I was building in down-side emotional protection.  And sure, this does have some merit if your goal in life is to always be prepared to handle negative outcomes.  But what ripple effect does focusing on the negative actually have? I feel like my practice of focusing on negative outcomes has potent...

 Maybe it is adrenaline from my long run.  Maybe it is that sense of euphoria that comes when you recover from being sick.  Maybe it is hearing the right podcast at just the right time.  No matter what the reason, all I can tell you is that I am feeling fired up right now, in the best possible way. Coming into the weekend, I was a bit concerned because I hadn't had any real inspirations for my weekly post.  I had caught one of the bugs that is going around and that sidelined me for the better part of the week.  It put a crimp in my usual routines and I felt quite disconnected and out of touch with the world in general.  Despite the sense of disarray, I likely needed the downtime to reset and regroup and slow down a bit.  It felt great to be able to get outside and moving again and I was fortunate to have a chance to listen to a really inspiring podcast as I was out and about.  The podcast episode was a conversation between Rich Roll and Mel R...

I have to admit, I am a person who loves a good learning curve.  There is something appealing about starting from scratch and needing to work on figuring out something new.  The trial and error and small victories that come along the way.  The ability to immerse yourself in learning and the sense of growth that comes with it.  It all feeds my curiosity and growth mindset and desire to feel like I am really experiencing all that life has to offer.  On the flip side, I find that once I feel I am good enough at something, my interest wanes and I want to move on.   I am hooked on learning curves and the adrenaline that comes with them.  This has been helpful over the years as it has allowed me to try on a whole bunch of new hats and to dive into new hobbies and meet lots of new people.  It also means that I often don't give myself enough time to really hone my craft.  I consider my work to be done when I am competent and then start to look f...

 Have you ever noticed recurring themes in your life?  Often subtle and sometimes easily missed, these repeating moments or opportunities seem to come and go over time.  I am starting to wonder if the Universe purposely parts a curtain to provide a glimpse of something and then leaves us to ponder it. I have noticed in my own life how often certain "chances" seem to come about.  If I don't move towards them the first time, I am sure to see something similar presented down the road.  Is it because I am looking for these second chances, or would they be there even if I didn't pay close attention? Maybe the first glimpse is simply to make us aware of new possibilities.  Providing us with a spark we can choose to feed with intention or allow to die down.  And maybe the purpose is to open us up to opportunities that we hadn't considered for ourselves.  Some food for daydreams and future plans.  As we continue to carry these dreams with us, maybe t...

 For so many years I had held the belief that decisions I made would lead to an outcome that I would be then locked into.  A sense of permanence around choices in my life and the place that they would lead me.  This binary, locked-down thinking resulted in a lot of hesitation and indecisiveness throughout my life, as it put so much weight on every decision and choice I made.   I remember speaking with a coach about this, as we tried to unravel the reason behind my five-year plan becoming a six- seven- or eight-year plan due to my inability to act.  She asked me to picture myself on a walk in the forest, faced with three different paths to choose.  Looking at each, it would be hard to know exactly where they were going to lead to, so I would need to just choose and start picking my way along one of them.  She asked me what I would do if I realized that the path I was on wasn't suited to my hiking abilities.  I told her that I would simply turn...

 It struck me the other morning as I was on a walk.  This realization of where I am now in comparison where I thought (or assumed) I would be only a few years ago.  And don't get me wrong, these thoughts were not accompanied by a sense of sorrow or regret.  What I felt instead was more of an awareness of just how much has taken place and how many choices and decisions I have made in that rather short span of time. Mind-boggling.  Let me ask you, when was the last time you stopped and gave yourself a pat on the back or acknowledged the work that goes into living our lives each and every day?  And stop yourself before you shrug and find a reason to downplay the work.  Instead, pause and think about where you were a month, six months, a year, a few years ago and then contrast it to where you are today.  Sure, there may be things that are not in your life now that you miss or wish were still there, but as you let go of that can you find evidence of th...

 I hadn't planned on writing a post about yesterday's half-marathon, but sometimes life/the Universe provides you with material that you just cannot ignore.  So here is a story of yesterday's race. For the past three months I have had a training schedule attached to my fridge door outlining my training plan for yesterday's race.  Dutifully each week I looked at the plan, laced up and ran when I needed to and even rested when I was supposed to.  All according to plan.  I started to ride my bike a lot more and felt that the cross-training this provided was helping me with cardio endurance and mental endurance as well.  Another check in the books as far as training and preparation goes.  Although my diet has leaned towards being healthy for the most part, I even made some tweaks there and started to embrace a plant-based diet which also felt like it was contributing to better physical output and recovery.  Check, check, check. As race day approached,...