Levitate, levitate
Summer update…
One thing which I often forget how much I love is hiking. The instant I am surrounded by nature again I enter a meditative bliss. Finding a routine of steady breathing, releases a lot of trapped anxiety held in my body. The physical manifestation of emotions and stress can become a physical trap.
I decided to make it my mission to get out on as many walks as possible. To take advantage of the dense Australian bush a mere 3 kilometres from the Brisbane CBD. I walked Mt. Coot-tha and the surrounding forrest too many times to count. I noticed new things and had plenty of time to think about my life over the past six months, and the near future.
When I first started at the bottom of a trail, the trees around me were huge. (We all know Australian Gum Trees are super tall.) But as I started to climb the trail, progress on the journey — they became smaller. Looking out from the summit, everything that was once super tall became tiny; the skyscrapers in the CBD didn’t even look that big anymore.
It reminded me that in my daily life that I can become caught up in a stressful moment. Allowing the things around me to look so big. Hate, negativity, losses and setbacks seem monumental and terrifying.
But in the same way as things appear small from the summit, as we progress to higher elevations those things start to become small.
Fast forward to today… I’m no longer on the peaceful trails of South East Queensland. I’m in San Francisco, in the midst of summer workouts. I’m gasping for City air.
For the next 6 weeks I am tasked with 5 hours of football per day. Weightlifting, meetings, film sessions, plyometrics, sprints and conditioning. 2 hours outside of that in physical therapy, stretching and mental visualisation/rituals. Oh and did I mention classes and homework…? But I am happy and grateful to be able to live this. I’m so excited for the season coming up in August. These long, tough summer days will set me up for an incredible season. I have never felt so quietly determined and locked in on my goals.
Sometimes I ponder the alternative route, relaxing on the bush trails back home. Without all this added physical and mental pressure.
If I want to move closer to my dreams and my goals, I gotta tell myself I can do something, then I gotta do it. It’s always day by day like it’s step by step on the bush trails to reach the summit. I have big dreams, but I try to shorten those dreams to day by day, so I can come closer each and every time.
I hope I am climbing a figurative hiking trail each day. Elevating above the things that used to bring me down so they have no effect on me now and getting closer to my summit. Ticking off mini-goals along the climb.
