The Road Not Taken. Until Now.

“Mental Monday.” I have decided I like that better than “Monday Motivation” and going forward, Monday posts will be exploring ways to deal with that space between our ears.

Not sure I mentioned running at all last week on the blog, so this week, we’ll start with a running story. For me, and many other long-distance runners, the weekend is the time to work in the longest run of the week. Saturday is my day for this. Being human, and someone who tends to develop routines, I have a few go-to routes.

This weekend’s Saturday run started out like so many others – the same direction up and out of the neighborhood and then left onto the main road. The sky was crystal clear and the sun was out which helped to warm me up quickly. I shed my light jacket at the front of the neighborhood, rolling it up and tucking it behind a large rock to retrieve on the way back.

After eight miles of the same roads and the same music, I decided it was time to shake things up. I turned off my music and turned down Monts Road, a dirt road I had passed every day for the past 12 years, either in the car or on the run. Despite the proximity to my house, I had never ventured down Monts. I’ll admit, my main apprehension about Monts was a fear of the unknown, mainly unknown dogs. Saturday, though, I felt fast and fearless.

The detour down Monts didn’t last long – just under eight minutes – but it turned out to be the highlight of the run with beautiful scenery, new local knowledge gained, and no dogs fended off. Fear conquered.

Monday, Monday

This is a Monday post, and Monday’s stink. Believe me, I know. Maybe you’re like me and the thought of facing your job on Monday starts bringing you down on Sunday. That doesn’t happen every week, though. Sometimes it starts on Saturday.

Obviously, that’s not good. So, how do you combat that? Well, one way is to start shaking things up, as I did on my Saturday run. You don’t have to start with anything earth-shattering, like walking into the boss’s office at 8 a.m. and telling him to “Take this job and…” Well, you know the rest of the song.

If Mondays (and every other day of the work week) have you down, start changing a few things. Here are some suggestions:

• Drive a different route to work
• Eat at a different restaurant for lunch – with a different co-worker
• Park in a different part of the parking lot
• Take the stairs
• Read the book Poke The Box by Seth Godin

There are a zillion more things you can do. The bottom line is to do something different. That’s one of my goals for the week. What are yours?

Thanks for reading.

Greg

PS Click on the book to go to Amazon: