Summer Running and a Giveaway!

Happy July! I hope you enjoyed a happy 4th of July! We enjoyed breakfast traditions with our family, and then spent the rest of the day hanging out with friends. I hope your day included some fun celebrations.

Speaking of celebrations, I’m celebrating summer with a Christmas in July giveaway! If you need a little escape from the heat, you can download my FREE Advent short story, Coming Home, just by signing up for my monthly newsletter. (If you’re already a subscriber, you should have already received a link for your free copy.) Click here to sign up and grab your copy!

One of my favorite life rhythms shifts is the shift to summertime morning runs. During the school year, I fit my workouts in after work because I’m not enough of a morning person (or at all of a morning person), to get up early enough to workout before I have to get ready and be out the door for work.

But in summer? Ahhh, morning runs are bliss. Usually. Here in the Inland Northwest, our mornings are usually still cool enough to be perfect running weather. If you get up early enough, that is. If you don’t… well, that can be another story.

I encountered one such day last week on a run. I’d gotten up later than usual, and the day was already warm. But it had been a few days since I’d run, and I was desperate to get back to my summer morning routine. So I laced up my shoes and out the door I went.

I started with a slight headwind. It wasn’t strong enough to make me feel like I was working really hard, or, as headwinds often do, to make me feel as if I wasn’t making progress. Instead, this headwind was just enough to keep me cool as I started out on my run and my body began to warm up. Even though I was running into the wind, it wasn’t strong enough to wear me out, but actually felt refreshing.

This reminded me of when I’m learning or trying something new. Learning new things can be fun, but often there’s a bit of resistance that you have to push against in order to figure it out. And in that pushing against it and pushing into it, it’s also somewhat exhilarating. There is joy (and sometimes trepidation) in learning new things. But pushing against that barrier can be energizing and fulfilling.

As I continue my writing journey, I’m finding that there are often parts of it when I’m pushing against that headwind. Occasionally, it feels really strong, and I feel like I’m not getting anywhere. But most of the time, that headwind of learning new things feels more like a refreshing breeze that’s energizing me for the road ahead.

I’m curious. Where do you feel like you have a sweet headwind in your life? Or maybe you have areas that feel like that really strong wind that wears you out? Comment below to join the conversation.