All it takes is all you've got

Welcome back :) I really appreciated the honesty in your blog post. I don't know if you are much of a reader, but Terry Tempest Williams' When Women Were Birds may be a nice read for you right now.

I actually thought about you last week and looked at both your blogs, glad to see you at it again.

Hey Nan, that was an excellent post. Always enjoyed reading what you have to say. Hope you guys are doing well.

And thanks for the information you gave Andrea. Very helpful.

Welcome back! I'd like to venture and answer your question from my own experience... I have learned to let go of an emotional burden in two ways: 1) thinking about it, deeply and extensively (nice slow runs...); and 2) talking about it, calmly and honestly.

The thinking part comes more easily to me; I try to avoid rationalizations but aim for the understanding of how certain events, in the past or present, may have ended up being processed, maybe incompletely or erroneously, in my mind, and understanding how some feelings brought about by these occurrences were never expressed and buried inside somewhere since they hurt too much and/or I did not have the courage/strength/skills to set them straight right then and there. Little did I know that they would still continue to hurt, in subtle ways but with devastating effects, for many years to come! More about the thinking part, I also like to write down my dreams and look for messages there; and finally, it is important to me to think about and find situations where I might have assumed the burdens or the consequences of responsibilities that should squarely belong somewhere else.

The talking part is equally important, maybe even more important, since the thinking without talking is not completely sufficient, but one can always do the thinking while talking (which is something I don't excel at, hence the extensive thinking before I open my mouth...) I have found that once an hidden emotional stress is brought to light this way, it dissolves like snow under the sun and its effects go away just like that.

All of this of course assumes the awareness of having an emotional burden hidden somewhere inside, and then the strength and willingness to work on it, which for me was the hardest step - but sounds like you're way ahead of this!

Best wishes for your writing and your running, I will be looking forward to continue reading your posts, and race reports.

Lulu-Thanks for the recommendation. I'll put it on my Kindle wish list. I read the synopsis and it looks deep and interesting.

Claudio-Thanks for your words. I agree that talking is equally important to thinking. I could use a little more of both preferably without distraction. I think most important for me right now is acknowledging that something needs to change in how I've been dealing with my emotions and then changing it.

I totally enjoy the life of mostly watchless running!