Down, But Not Out!
By Barbara (Bobbie) Purvis
I have been enjoying Tai Chi again. With each day of practice, I have looked forward to moving slowly and working hard with consistency and more and more quality of movement. They say it takes exposure to something a minimum of 7 times to remember it clearly, and about 21 days (minimum) to form a habit.
I know it’s true because back when I was running every day at 5 a.m. my body would prepare even before I was awake by raising my heart rate (and that was usually enough to move me out of slumber and make me anticipate the coming run before I was even out of bed).
Just as I was closing in on that “habit forming” benchmark of 21 day of consistency, I woke up one morning with a medical issue that meant I would have to delay reaching that milestone. In fact, if delayed long enough, it would mean that I would have to start over from day one.
I had a muscle spasm in my neck. It doesn’t sound like much, but it was significant enough that I didn’t feel comfortable driving, and I knew better than to try to “push through the pain” to keep training. I couldn’t even continue with standing meditation even though it only required me to hold one posture for the duration of the practice. So for the next couple of days I simply thought positive thoughts and tried to be patient with my body and allow it to fully recover before continuing on.
Here’s a poem that shares how I felt during that time.
I Resign
(Author Unknown)
I am hereby officially tendering my resignation as an adult.
I have decided I would like to accept the responsibilities
of an 8-year-old again.
I want to go to McDonald’s and think that it’s a four star restaurant.
I want to sail sticks across a fresh mud puddle and make ripples with rocks.
I want to think M&Ms are better than money because
you can eat them.
I want to lie under a big oak tree and run a lemonade stand
with my friends on a hot summer day.
I want to return to a time when life was simple.
When all you knew were colors, multiplication tables, and nursery rhymes, but that didn’t bother you, because you didn’t know what you didn’t know and you didn’t care.
All you knew was to be happy because you were blissfully unaware of all the things
that should make you worried or upset.
I want to think the world is fair. That everyone is honest and good.
I want to believe that anything is possible.
I want to be oblivious to the complexities of life
and be overly excited by the little things again.
I want to live simple again.
I don’t want my day to consist of computer crashes, mountains of paperwork, depressing news, how to survive more days in the month than there is money in the bank, doctor bills, gossip,
illness, and loss of loved ones.
I want to believe in the power of smiles, hugs, a kind
word, truth, justice, peace, dreams, the imagination, mankind,
and making angels in the snow.
So…here’s my checkbook and my car keys, my credit cards and all my responsibility.
I am officially resigning from adulthood.
And if you want to discuss this further, you’ll have to catch me first, ’cause,
“Tag! You’re it.”