A New Challenge with an Old Friend

I did something today that I’ve never done. I got out of bed, and immediately tackled the day.

I’m a procrastinator to an extent. I have ADD, so some days, small tasks feel like mountains, and other days they feel like pebbles. I woke up this morning to pebbles. As soon as I sat up, I made a mental list of things I wanted to get done. Things I’d been putting off for a week or more. With my mind focused, I finished them in 30 minutes. I had promised my daughter a kolache for doing so well with her potty training yesterday, so that was my last morning chore. I put the destructive dog in her room and got the good dog and we walked out to get in the car.

Anna had challenged me to walk my driveway and back, several days ago. My driveway (this picture is about 3/4 of it) is around 25 yards, so to the end and back is half a football field or more and coming back is an incline. I thought she was trying to kill me. We settled on something I felt was more reasonable given how little walking I’ve done in the past couple of years. But I kept it in my mind and said I’d eventually try it when I felt stronger.

I got to the car and looked down the driveway. I looked to the side at my dog, his goofy expression and nearly blind eyes patiently waiting for me to open the car door. I smiled at him and said, “come on old boy, let’s go for a walk.” Normally, he isn’t allowed to venture out further than the car, so he stood still for a moment as I started walking. I clapped my leg and sheer joy crossed his face as all 80 pounds of his 14-year-old body lunged forward to get next to me.

And we walked. It wasn’t yet too hot to enjoy the air, and the overnight rain had left behind the smell of grass and mud, that I could barely pick up so I breathed in deeply. The moisture left little dew drops in my nostrils. It was at that moment, I realized I could be a morning person. I made it to the end of my driveway, and felt I wanted to do more, but knowing I had to make it back to the car, I chose to take the win and return, my best friend of 13 years padding along beside me with his tongue hanging out. He gets tired pretty easy these days too.

I got back to the car and sat down. I was winded and my back was cranky, but I know I could have done more, when I wasn’t even sure I could do what I did when I started. Pupper in the back seat, I pulled out and called my grandmother to celebrate what I had just accomplished. And you know what? I’m going to do it again tomorrow and go a little further. And then a little further the next day, and a little further each day until I can walk the half mile circle of our drive.

Strength can be physical, and that’s how we often see it, but the limits of our strength are sometimes mental. What I thought I could do and what I actually could do weren’t the same. I’ve stopped telling myself I can’t, and instead, I tell myself, “even if not today, trying will mean I can one day.”

I hope you all exercise your inner strength as often as the outer, because strengthening your inner strength will lead to surpassing yourself. Somehow, some way, every day.