“Because of grace, everything in your story has purpose. Even the dark parts. Especially the dark parts. Your brokenness is what allows the light to get in.” “Our lives are built by the voices we hear. It’s why they matter.”
Credit for the quotes above belong to separate devotionals. The intent is similar. What we hear, what we read, what we tell ourselves shapes the narrative in our minds. Our ‘self talk’ is perhaps even more important than what others tell us! Think about it. Haha no pun intended. Goals, dreams, aspirations begin in the mind. Ours!
The past two weeks have been particularly difficult in my own little world. For starters, I was completely out of commission one day for allergy-related breathing issues, then there was the seemingly neverending jaunt of dance performance rehearsals and end-of-year school activities. Then I accidentally took a double dose of daily medication which really made for an interesting day. I don’t remember most of it.
As hard as I’ve tried to be gentle with myself and manage my own expectations of what life should look like, my tank has been running on E. This is why… it’s called Running on Fumes. But I think I’m completely past E. There’s strangers pushing the truck from the intersection at this point. Beep, beep! My cycle is messed up, my hormones are out of whack, and I’m alternately exhausted or can’t asleep. Classic signs of burnout.
So how do we fix it? Maybe just by saying I’m done. The world with its political everything and life with its constant battles. I need some time to reset, recharge, relax. But not from blogging. It’s beyond time to fill up the tank. Side note: who can afford to do that now?! I can. You can. We all can. Sometimes we choose not to which sounds worse than paying for it.
I’m using this four-day weekend to catch up on things that make me happy – like Tom Cruise, long runs, and meal prepping. And muffins. aka cupcakes without icing
____________________
I ask you –
Are you on proverbial E?
What do you do to “fill your tank”?
Average gas prices where you live! $3.89
Running on Fumes 
I’ve been on E since 2013.
I try to exercise to help, but as you know, I don’t run as much as I want to. But, some running is better than no running.
$5 a gallon here. PA has additional gas tax, and probably 6 or 7 more taxes tied into gas. I would like to give Philadelphia to New Jersey, but that’s not happening.
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Oh wow. I thought we had it bad, but that’s incredible. And not in a good way.
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I have a diesel, and it’s $5.50/gallon. When we go away for a weekend we spend $300-400 on fuel. It’s ridiculous!
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Christina, it’s so expensive to drive anywhere right now. We spend more on fuel than accomodations!
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Luckily we drive around our accommodations, which is the only reason it’s worth it to drive with these fuel prices. If had to pay a couple hundred or more for a place to stay, we’d never go anywhere, lol.
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Which is exactly the reason I want to convert a van, too! I’d live like a turtle!
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I run until I break. It is kind of a fun world to be in when you are empty. It is actually quick a hard thing to do to really push the body to a breaking point. Ultras are fun. In real life too we all kind of push ourselves to our limit, though there are all kind of bad consequences when we do.
Gas is above 4 and maybe $5 in DC. I stopped looking at prices, but I play a game each week to bet if filling up my truck will cost me over or under $60.
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You’re right, Antin. Our minds and bodies can push us much further than we imagine, but we stop when it feels uncomfortable. I’m amazed at your ultra races!
Hahaha I play that game, too. My little car is usually at the $50 or less mark.
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Got a question for you. I’m about to buy a new pair of Brooks. I see on my Runkeeper app there’s a shoe mileage tracker. I’m going to use it for these. At how many miles should you retire your running shoes?
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Hey! The ideal mileage retirement is around 500 miles. I realize some say 300-500, but, in my long life of shoe wearing opinion, 300 miles is a ploy by shoe companies to get you to buy shoes sooner than necessary.
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Oh yeah. Growing up the family business was a car repair shop. Back when I started driving you were told to change the oil in your car every 6,000 miles. They later shortened it to every 3,000 miles. Guess they weren’t selling enough oil. But 500 sounds good. Thanks a lot!
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