Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

So as of late, with all the chaos and stress in my life, I am finding solace in mind numbing activities. How do I define mind numbing? Anything that requires my complete attention to stay on task, but actually need me to think. A lot.

For example, swimming. I love swimming. Not only does it feel great, but I have to focus so completely and entirely on keeping track of the number of laps I have done that I cannot think about anything else. As soon as my mind wanders from what lap I am on I find myself repeating laps, skipping laps, and all together confused. So instead I swim back and forth, and back and forth. Its very Ground Hog's Day, but in a good way.

Track running is the same thing.

And when I am at home "relaxing" I opt to knit. Now knitting is something people of all ages, genders and levels of eyesight are capable of doing. But for me, it requires my complete undivided attention. As soon as I answer the phone or get sucked into tv, or heaven forbid, think about anything other than knitting, I'm purling when I should've knitted. Or I've dropped a stitch. Or other things that annoy me and make my scarfs look unpretty.

I love my long runs for similar reasons. Especially when my "long runs" actually have some distance to them. The longer the run, the harder I push, the more it twinges, the more I have to concentrate all of myself into pushing through that wall. And when it comes down to mind over matter, I need to put on my mental blinders and focus everything I have at the task at hand.

Goodness me do I need to learn to function better under stress. But until then, I will swim and knit and run til it hurts.