The Art of Resting While Running
This freaking election season is a marathon.
At the end of 9th grade, I was so sad that I was convinced I would go to bed and not wake up. I put on my pajamas and said goodbye to the world, certain this was my last night on earth. I didn’t plan to harm myself; I was simply sure I would die of crushing teenage sadness.
Maybe you were dramatic as a teenager, too?
Right now, it’s hard to know how dramatic to be about the coming election. Polls show a tight race. Large media outlets cover an unhinged candidate as if he’s typical, “sane washing” the news, a phrase coined by journalist Parker Molloy.
In trying not to let my mind rush too far ahead, I’ve been thinking about my husband’s advice to our daughter, when she ran cross country in high school. As she got to be a stronger runner, he told her, she would learn to rest while she was running. She could rest as she moved. Not stop, or walk, although there’s no shame in either one, but rest from the intensity while still moving forward.
That’s our challenge now.
In this stress-filled election season, we can’t be panicked all the time, running on cortisol and fear. We can’t run on broken sleep and rage from now until the election, or past that, until the lawsuits are over. The stakes are high, and the panic doesn’t serve us well.
This is the time to rest while we’re running.
Take the shower. Eat the ice cream. Read the fluffy novel. Change the pace. Slow down. Look up. Get off screens for chunks of time. (This is hard, when another wave of bad news is always lurking. Or, when we need a juicy distraction.) Take a breath. Imagine that the future could, actually be positive.
We have a long race to run, no matter what happens in the next few weeks. Resting is part of the running.
How are you giving yourself some rest while we all run this election marathon? Let me know what’s working for you — or not working at all.
helpful! thank you. i take my rest in gratitude for real life kindness expressed toward my family and me in words and actions. i find rest in nature too— blue sky, the trees outside my window. in a cup of good coffee in the early morning and a phone call or text from my mom or daughter.
i check in to the news in the afternoon, in measured doses—-but from non-hysterical sources i trust.i steer clear of fear mongering tones and headlines. i keep company with people willing to “Do something” rather than just whine & complain.i recite Psalm 23 to myself every night before sleeping. “yea, tho i walk through the valley of death, I shall fear no evil for thou art with me.”
I appreciate this wisdom and perspective. The “sane-washing” phrase is disturbingly accurate. I’m holding on to hope. If the worst happens, and I hope and pray it does not, the path of love, kindness, and peacemaking will still be ours to take.