SweatyShe Monday: Glory Days

By: Susan Farago

While I was standing in my chiropractor's office this morning waiting to check out, I was looking at his "wall of fame" - all the people he has treated over the years. There are some very accomplished athletes including pro cyclists, Olympic champions, football players, weight lifters...you get the idea. As my eyes were scanning the wall, I saw a photo of a cheerleader in a shiny sparkly outfit with a big smile on her face. Written on the photo in black pen, it said:

Thank you so much for all your help. You're the best! Christa (In my glory days)

In my glory days?!?

I stood there thinking about this statement over and over. And it made me sad. How does she know those were her glory days? Maybe the best is yet to come? But it seems she's already thrown in the towel and just knows that from here on out, things are going to get progressively worse.

Ye gads how depressing!

I will never utter the words, "In my glory days" because I live too much in the future - planning the next great adventure or anticipating the next whirlwind event. In fact my biggest challenge is being in the moment and enjoying what is happening NOW. I even bought a book to help me with this called "The Presence Process" which turned out to be 180 pages of telling me to breathe. My desire to live in the now appreciated this approach - my patience did not.

Sometimes my future thinking is merely hours ahead. I have caught myself wondering what to eat for dinner as I'm walking down to the swim start of an Ironman - as if I've mentally breezed through the gruelling hours that lay ahead. Even as I type this post, I've already done today's swim workout, put mulch in all my gardens, and I've showered and am now sitting on the couch. And this future self is probably imagining my future-future self already in Minnesota visiting family over Christmas. Now I know why my husband says it's hard to keep up with me. I can't even keep up with myself!

My mom once told me that people are generally lumped into three categories: people who live in the past, people who are firmly grounded in the present, and those of us who dream of the future.

Maybe Christa lives in the past. If so, I hope she has more glory days.

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Need a way to jump start your week? SweatyShe Mondays are thoughts and humorous musings from the world of active Shes.