Am I Committed or Should I be Committed?
For those of you who know me well, you know that I only enjoy early morning when it comes at the end of the day–not the beginning. Yesterday, at the end of a long work night I arrived home to bright sunshine and warm temperatures. It was so nice outside. The air smelled fresh, the birds were singing. Ahhhh… it was glorious.
I decided to take my 2-mile walk before heading off to bed for the day. I left the house at about 6:40 a.m. I was in total “stroll” mode. No need to work up a sweat. I just wanted to enjoy the morning.
I had walked about 3/4 of a mile when I realized it was Tuesday. On Tuesday mornings at 7 a.m. ET I have a Action Group telemeeting.
Within seconds I considered my options:
- Continue my leisurely walk and send a note of apology when I got home
- Pick up my pace and arrive on the call about 20 minutes late
- Turn tail and run home to make the call on time or just a few minutes late
I chose option 3.
I’m sure I looked like quite funny running up the street in my red LL Bean fleece jacket. (I wish I’d remembered to change into my sports bra.) I did impress myself with how far I managed to run before I stopped to gasp for air. I did this run, stop, gasp, walk, run, stop, gasp, walk cycle several times before skidding across my kitchen floor at 7:06 a.m. and grabbing up the telephone.
I punched in the phone number and access code. As I connected with the call I heard Gloria and Kris talking. And I started gasping and laughing as I tried to explain and apologize for being late.
We shared a good laugh over my determination and commitment to participate in the call. After all, it would have been so easy to just keep walking.
I didn’t really think much of my immediate decision to run home to make the call except for when I was telling people how silly and ungraceful I felt running up the street.
I didn’t think about it much until last night at work I sat down for a few minutes. When I stood up again my legs didn’t appreciate the effort. They were so sore! For the rest of the night I hobbled along but I didn’t give in to my desire to take the elevator rather than climb the stairs.
Even still, with the stiffness in my legs, I know I made a good choice yesterday morning.
My Tuesday morning Action Group helps me get focused for the week ahead. It offers me a forum to share my successes and challenges. It allows me to support and encourage the other members. It’s important to me.
When something is important to you you will do silly things to make sure you don’t miss out or mess up. You may even find yourself running the 3/4 mile dash. I’m committed to my Tuesday morning group. If either Kris or Gloria doubted that, I hope my breathless arrival convinced them of how committed I am to the group.
What are you committed to? Would some people think you need to be committed because of your passion and determination? What do you think?
