No photos for this 2018 essay, so I’ll just put in some nice pix.

November 4, 2018

This week on Facebook, a post came across my feed on Halloween. Incidentally I did not have any trick or treaters at my apartment, which was good, because I had no candy. I think children live in the building as I have seen tiny breaks in the garage, but I can’t swear to it. Maybe they belong to a grown up who just likes tiny bikes. Or a tiny grown up.

So I saw a post on Facebook, put up by my friend Candace and it encouraged people to take a 20-day challenge to wellness, with a focus on gratitude. Guessing it was most likely from an American site, as it would conveniently coincide with American Thanksgiving later in the month. I can’t find it now….

But Candace challenged her Facebook friends to do this 20 day challenge.

Now, I was going to write this week about the time I drove the Long Island railroad (it’s true, I did), but when I saw this post I figured it could wait until next week.

So I decided to try to follow the list, and on the first night it directed me to go to bed an hour before my usual time around 10:00 PM. Fell asleep pretty quickly too.

But then I woke up an hour early, just after 4:00 AM. The good news is that after a quick trip to the bathroom in just a few minutes, I managed to fall back to sleep and wake up to the sound of the newscast my clock radio was tuned to (yes I still have one–until it breaks I plan to use it. Do not judge.)

So that kind of went OK.

Day 2? Journal 10 things you are grateful for.

Well seeing as I was trying to think of my blog post for this week, and the only subject I was considering writing about was the time I drove the train, I figured I could get to my list this week.

That said, this may not be as easy a list to make as I thought it would be at first period but here goes:

1. I am grateful for my family

2. I am grateful for my friends

3. I am grateful that I live in Canada

4. I am grateful for the change of seasons

5, I am grateful for the gift of sight

6. I am grateful for the ability and means to travel

7. I am grateful for words and languages

8. I am grateful for pretty much everything in nature, except mosquitoes. And tornadoes.

9. I am grateful for my health

10 I am grateful, overall, for my life lived–so far. And there’s so much more to go!

So I started writing the list on day two, a Friday and finished it off this morning (Sunday). It really did take some thought.

Yesterday, day three, was supposed to be cool and cloudy, but I wanted to follow the list and decided to go for a walk. Instead of whipping around the block just to get it done, I headed to a park at the bottom of the hill near my apartment, after I ran my errands.

This park runs along the river on the train tracks run right through it, so I got to watch a freight train lumber east from the Rockies (remember next week is about trains, or tattoos I’m not sure which, so I won’t say more on this today).

Normally the park is packed and finding a parking space in the middle of the afternoon is an impossibility. But seeing as the weather was forecast to be a bit off, I managed to find a spot, easily. Still lots of people, but a little room too.

I liked it. The path–a good paved path–is solid and flat and asphalt; It’s divided to allow for safe passage for everyone from bikes and to scooters to runners and pedestrians. It winds along the river parallel to the tracks, so I walked a bit towards the city then turned and headed back into the main part of the park. Even the part in the park that is compressed dirt, covered in leaves and pine needles, is soft and straight. There’s a bridge that crosses the river, so I headed to that side, where there’s a little coffee shop, about to become bigger, it seems, as lots of work was going on.

The list doesn’t say how long to walk, so I think it’s up to you. I don’t think distance is key; I think it’s more about taking note of where you are–figuratively and literally. I went for two hours, much more than I thought I would… but it felt great.

And the bonus? The cloudy cold day turned out to be quite sunny and actually pretty mild, into the low teens/mid 50s Fahrenheit. I’m really glad I took the time to do this; The air was warm and scented with fall, people were present but not in abundance, and I found, for me, a new path.

But now I have some questions:

Are you supposed to now go to bed an hour earlier every night, or was it just for that first night? Last night was daylight savings time–clocks back night so it was easy… but moving forward? I don’t know if I can go to bed at 10 every night.

Can you swap some days around? For example, it would be much easier to declutter my desk/office on a weekend day than during the week, and definitely after my son’s cat stops living in that room (she’s in there because my two guys don’t want to make nice, yet, it’s been just under a week and we have a week to go).

What if you don’t pray? Can you just reflect? I would assume so…

 Can you watch a sunrise instead of a sunset? I’m at work when the sun sets. Oh wait, I’m at work when the sun rises now too… hopefully the swap is OK and I can do it on the weekend.

Can you eat inside if it’s snowing outside? Also the breakfast thing. Ever since I set my kitchen on fire, I don’t use the stove on work mornings.

Am I overthinking this?

Day 20 on Candace’s chart (yes, I read ahead): don’t overthink things..

Give it a try and let me know how you do.