Once we had a break in the rain, I took the opportunity to get out and walk a lot. On Thursday, I walked to the library to pick up a book that I had on hold. I used Apple Maps on my phone to chart a walking route that avoided busy roads and it worked really well until I got to a point where it told me to go right on a street that did not exist! There were some steps at the end of the dead end street I was on, so I followed them up past a few houses, and saw that further on there was a trail which I followed. It began to wind up the hillside and while there were some areas where there were stairs, most of it was a muddy trail due to the last couple days of rain. As I headed around a corner, I hit a particularly muddy patch where I slipped and fell on my side. Luckily, the mud was so deep it cushioned my fall, though one side of my leg was now covered in mud! That really wouldn’t have been much of a problem if I was on a hike, but I was headed toward downtown Mill Valley, and to the library. A little ways on I found a bench to sit on and use the napkins I had in the pocket of my backpack (I’ve become one of those people who always has napkins or Kleenex in my pockets… Just like my mom!) and managed to get the worst of it off. By the time I got to the library I had worn most of the mud off my shoes, and I was looking forward to sitting down for a while. (When I eventually got off the trail, I found myself at the top of the Dipsea steps, which meant I had to descend 600+ steps before I got to my destination.) I was able to use the bathroom at the library to clean myself up a little bit more, got my book, and found a comfy chair that looked out over redwood forest and a stream. It was a great place to recover and do some reading before heading home, taking a different route this time!
On Thursday night, I participated in the first session of a resilient neighborhood program where we will be evaluating our current household carbon footprint, and looking for ways at decreasing our negative impact on the earth. I am looking forward to learning more about this and getting to know the people in my group.
During my walk on Friday I thought about the coping strategies I use in my life. Maybe we put limits on ourselves and create coping strategies so we don’t get too far down into the negative. Or maybe we use those coping strategies as a way to avoid going deeper with ourselves. How much of these strategies are nourishing, and how much is a crutch? Maybe some of the time it is one and some of the time it is the other. Maybe some days you just let it all go and other days you need help to propel yourself forward and to make progress. Or maybe progress is made by not doing anything, having those fallow days. Life is not all about efficiency and productivity, no matter how much my brain wants to tell me that that’s the only reason I’m valuable.