Miles and Miles
My feet burned by the end. Having often hiked the southern half of Chicago's North Branch Trail, I've been curious to see the rest, and not having to backtrack. Contemplating traversing the entire route generated a kind of sustained anticipatory motivation that eventually diluted any reluctance, including when my alarm sounded at 6am last Monday. While I hiked with few stops, the undertaking had phases. The early morning start was my favorite part, walking in the cool quietude with the sun still low behind the trees and few others around. The last several miles were the least enjoyable as the bottoms of my feet felt the miles and the scenery was relatively bland. Both extremes took me inward in different ways; pain can do that as much as contentment. In between, my mind contemplated all kinds of topics. "Running is my thinking time," a long-distance runner friend once remarked. I'm convinced that working on social impact issues over time requires such constructive context shifting. I was going to write "constructive downtime" but that's not it. My clients' issues are on my mind more than when I'm just at my desk "working." I enjoy my office, but being in a different environment can invoke a productive mental shift, even if the results aren't apparent until later. The inflection can't be forced, however, just experienced. I didn't start the hike with any kind of agenda except to achieve the satisfaction of finishing. Looking back, it's not having covered that many miles in a relatively efficient amount of time that is most meaningful, but my sense of what happened during the journey.
