Jon’s Mom’s Musings Part I
My third son, Jon has always loved a good adventure. As a teen ager he was continuously planning hikes, rock climbing, camping and other events for friends and church groups and/or father-son challenges.
In 2020 he applied for a permit to hike the PCT/Pacific Crest Trail. Due to Covid, his permit was canceled. He has waited three years to be able to complete this latest exploit.
He began his hike on May 7, 2023.
We had a “last supper” party for him where he invited some friends who had not only completed the PCT thru-hike but a few others as well. Impressive friends.
We all offered our encouragement and admiration. No one as eloquent as Grandma Jane, though. She always has the beautiful words to add to any occasion.
I have been getting brief communications from Jon, in the form of a text or GPS coordinate.
At the completion of day two our communication included:
Jon: I should have stopped and taken out the rock. I felt it.
This was after he told me he had painful blisters he had to deal with due to said disturbance.
And I thought to myself:
Rock: difficult life circumstance and emotion
Shoe: Our body
Hike: Life
Keeping us from emptying our shoe: pride, fear, impatience
Life offers us tricky situations similar to a rock in the shoe: a person we need to have a tough discussion with, a habit we need to confront or task we need to complete.
Ignoring the tricky situations or emotions may start as just a small irritation but if left unattended morph into unwanted reactive emotion, physical ailments, lost sleep or any number of consequences brought on by buffering behaviors.
Give yourself the gift of self awareness and STOP what you are doing.
It doesn’t matter what others might think in your pause—it is what you need and you are worth caring for.
Don’t be afraid of feeling the emotions that arise. Anticipating emotion is much worse than just letting it come and flow.
Life is not a race. Take it at your own pace.
What rocks are irritating your life progress?
Let’s get those taken care of.
xoKathleen
