Birthday musings

My birthday is this week which always makes me reflective. Lately, my life has been feeling pretty redundant and boring. I feel like I’m doing the same runs at the same pace on the same roads, like I’m wasting days sitting for hours staring at a computer screen, like I’m wasting nights watching the same TV shows on the same couch. But then I thought about what I’ve done in the last year
-I went to Ghana and saw poverty and sickness like I’d never seen. But at the same time I saw faith and gratitude like I’d never seen.
-I changed jobs. It was scary leaving a secure position where I great potential, but where I was unhappy.
- I went to Antarctica and ran a marathon. I got to see incredible natural beauty, meet incredible people, and learned that I do have what it takes to dig deep and finish something really difficult.
-I got my master’s degree in public health. For me this was harder than my undergraduate degree because I did it while working full time and paid for it myself.
Looking at it this way, I had a pretty spectacular year. So why I am ending it feeling unfulfilled? I’m coming to the conclusion that, in the end, life is not about the big moments. Life is the everyday: seeing a perfect sunset on your morning run, the first sip of coffee, a conversation with a friend, a hot bowl of macaroni and cheese on a cold night. So I am making that my mission for this year- to recognize, appreciate, and savor the little minutes. The moment I savored this morning was the cool splash as I dove into the pool after my long birthday run. If I had to be away from home and working on my birthday, at least I still got to do a long run along a path by a lake and then jump in an icy pool at the end.