If I’m being honest, this week has kind of sucked. To start off the week, I got some bad news about my grandfather’s health. My grandpa is still in complete denial that he’s dying, even though the doctors told him he is in fact, dying. As I’m dealing with this, some things happened at work that made it so that I’m working an extra 10 hours a week (don’t get me wrong, the extra pay is nice, but it’s hard to stay on top of being a full-time student and life when working 30+ hours a week). So I’m going through my week, just keeping on keeping, and yesterday (04/14/2016) I woke up to find my parked car had been slammed into. Today, I’m waiting on a phone call to see if it’s totaled or not. Tomorrow (04/16/2016) is my birthday. Like I said, this week has kind of sucked.
At the beginning of this year, I signed up to run a marathon on my birthday. I started running to combat depression and try to get into shape. Running helps clear my head and gives me spare time to pray that I normally wouldn’t take the time to do. Last year I ran a half marathon. This year, I decided to up the ante and go for the full-blown, real deal. Luckily, my friend Jose is running the marathon with me. Luckily, we already made plans for Jose to drive. Even though this week has sucked, I still want to run the marathon. I am running the marathon. When life gives you something worse than lemons, like snakes (just like Indiana Jones, “I hate snakes”), stomp on their heads until they die and go running.
People have asked me why I run, and I think as of this week I finally know my full answer. I run because it helps me clear my head, gives me time to pray and connect with Jesus, helps fight off depression, makes me realize that life is worth fighting for, and helps me keep hardships in perspective—because hardships eventually will end. Sometimes life isn’t easy, and sometimes life straight sucks. That doesn’t mean that you should go hunker down and just roll over and let life happen to you. Get out there and keep pushing. Keep fighting. There is a Creator that cares for me, knows my needs, and meets them.
P.S. — Here’s a song that’s helped me keep going this week.