Inspired and Invigorated

Inspire [in-spahy^uhr] 
- to motivate and invigorate .... to inhale, breathe deep and breathe life into ... to draw forth and elicit action.

This week I am mixing things up and posting my bit of inspiration a little early. 

At the beginning of my holidays I was tired, flat and ready to bury myself under a pile of blankets and soothe myself with mindless TV drama and endless cups of hot steamy tea. I was in need of a little inspiration. I decided to be purposeful and intentional with my time. I didn't want to resurface at the end of three weeks and allow time to have slipped away without being fully present. 

I love writing but it takes up a lot of time, sometimes too much time. I really didn't want to get stuck in front of my lap top!! I wanted to spend time getting out and enjoying the world, fully engaging in moments of tranquility and serenity. I wanted to be audacious, fearless and brave. Ha!... so I thought.  (Okay I decided to be fearless and brave but not in the way you might think.) 

At first I was just getting out and about in the neighbourhood by visiting the park, the lake, the beach or the botanic gardens. I was even making it worthwhile by looking for picturesque views to snap but something very unexpected happened. (Firstly however, I need to give you a little background about me - I hate exercising!! ... hate being hot and sweaty!! ... and will avoid over exerting myself where punishing workouts are concerned... running - ugghh!!) Living in a humid, occasionally tropical climate means for most of the year we have deliciously hot summers and very short winters so exercising usually means hot sweaty work most of the time... eewww!! We are currently in the middle of winter (It's only really cold here for two months of the year and never below zero.... so what am I complaining about?.... bear with me :) 

It is sometimes a shock to have such cool, crisp air early in the morning and right on dusk when the sun still shines so beautifully throughout the day. It becomes freezing so very quickly. Usually I make sure we are bundled up inside so as to avoid the cool weather, especially as the chill sparks asthma with the kiddos.

But this year I changed my perspective and challenged a mind set. I decided to push myself out from the safety of my little cocoon world... pulling my weary body from the comfort of a nice warm bed, I intentionally ventured out into the cold cool world. Wrapping myself in a scarf I began pounding the pavement. At first I had two running conversations in my head .... 'What are you doing, your crazy!' (Just keep going) ... 'This is crazy???' (This is cool - literally) ... 'Wow my fingers are numb' (Look at the beauty around you, take a deep breath, push through) ... 'Oh, my teeth are chattering!!' (Oh look, fish are jumping out of the water, the water looks like glass - actually thats really breathtaking) and so it went for the first week. By the end of that first week I discovered something about myself that I never knew - I actually enjoyed walking in the cool, crisp air with the sun waking over the horizon or filtering through the trees at dusk. It was actually invigorating, really inspiring and dare I say - intoxicating! ... By week two I started to feel alive, truly fully alive in forever and I was doing it minus the hot sweaty body (BONUS!) 

Week three I was actually exercising and enjoying it, even looking forward to it (Surprise!), probably for the first time since, uummm, possibly since childhood!

This week I was inspired by 

brisk walking 

cool, crisp air ... invigorating!

people walking their dogs ...  dog walking people are friendly people.

fluffy clouds ... love how they flit across the sky.

my kids donning roller blades and coming with me (their inhalers safely tucked inside their pockets.)

walking at the beach

sitting on the rocks gazing out to sea ... peaceful.

dappled sunlight

a swan on the lake - so graceful

me -  I actually attempted running!!

my daughter cheering me on... really inspiring!