Reflecting on resilience.
Wipers whipping, rain hammering the windshield, and I'm dumbfounded. Then, I'm both impressed and mildly insecure.
It's 6am and I'm comfortably nestled into the driver's seat of my car. Nice and dry. But I'm pretty sure I see a person running in the rain. Not like "oh it's wet and I don't have an umbrella so I'll just run real fast to the building from the parking lot." This is someone recreationally jogging.
I'm looking at their long-sleeve shirt, shorts, and colorful running shoes in disbelief. I've run in the rain before. Hell, I've been caught in the mountains during multi-day storms where every piece of clothing we had felt like it'd just been freshly dunked in water. One time, on a backcountry canoeing trip, our neoprene dry-suits would freeze overnight. It was March. So, to defrost them, we really did have to dunk them in the river. There was a morning on that trip where it started downpouring on us, right after we'd slipped into those sopping-wet, dry-suits. But that actually was kind of nice because the rain was warmer than the river water.
It started hailing right after we'd pushed off for the day, though.
That sucked.
I can handle bad weather. That's what I'm thinking at this intersection, waiting for the light to turn green. I know enough to bring my just-in-case gear if Mother Nature starts acting funky. Over the years, I've heard so many guides and mentors tell me "there's no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing and unprepared people."
Past the intersection I catch up and see the runner's face for a split-second. This person is either going through some shit or has gone through some shit they never want to face again. Some people have a level of "I don't give a fuck" that I'll never know. What I do know is that I can withstand challenging and uncomfortable things, but I also know I'll take the option of not running in the rain... if that's a choice.
Who knows? Maybe I've lost a step. Skills deteriorate, mindsets atrophy, and conditions change. Ok, so this person's intentionally running in bad weather, and I'm running an errand before work—for all I know, maybe I am underdressed and underprepared for this chapter of life.
We're all just going through it, doing the best we can with what we've got.
Our Daily MAP Year Prompt
52/365
Are you someone who over-prepares, or are you the person who lets future you figure it out? What would it be like to try things differently?
onward.
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