Today I thank God (and my brother and sis-in-law) for a quiet afternoon spent floating in a pool reading a good book. It's a rare moment these days when I get to read something just for fun, but today I got to do just that. Don't get me wrong, I love reading professional books and even most of the books assigned through my course work, but let's face it, they are not what I would pick up during a mindless excursion through a fun book store. So today I decided to start a book I picked up during my last visit to Austin's Book People (quite possibly one of my favorite places in Texas). I threw the book in my backpack, hopped on my bike, and headed to my brother's for some quiet time soaking in the sun and the water.
The book is Run Like a Girl by Mina Samuels, and it proved to be the best thing I packed for the day. I knew when Samuels referenced one of my all-time favorite writing books (Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott) in her first chapter, that we were going to get along just fine.
Remember that last post where I whined about sucking at running? She read my mind (doubtful my blog). "Look at it this way: less than half of all Americans exercise regularly. If you cycle, or play tennis, or swim, or do yoga three or four times a week, you're not 'ordinary'...even if you don't (probably, especially) if you sometimes don't achieve what you set out to accomplish - you're not ordinary" (13).
Andre Gide once said, "[Wo]man cannot discover new oceans unless [s]he has the courage to lose sight of the shore." Samuels says in the introduction that she wrote this book for women who have lost sight of the shore and found it again. As one of the many, many women out there trying to find the strength to swim that far out, I thank her for inspiring me today.
Don't have much time to devote to this post, so I'm going to keep it short. Gotta get back to reading! I would, however, like to share of few of my favorite lines so far. I hope that you find inspiration in her words as well. Inspiration to take a walk, make a healthy choice, or maybe just to go to the bookstore.
Either way...I hope her words at least give you reason to reflect.
"Human beings, by changing the inner beliefs of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives"
(cited as William James,12)
"A woman's physical strength cannot help but become psychological strength" (15).
"When you meet another woman, do you begin by sharing your accomplishments or do you bond over the process of belittling yourselves" (20)?
"I turned my back on my own resistance. I owned my own strength just a little bit more" (44).
"I had a long list of adventures and achievements I thought I'd do later when I established my so-called real life more firmly: climb a mountain, go backpacking, travel to every continent. Run a marathon and write a novel didn't even figure on the to-do list. They were on the 'I can only dream of that' list. I had no idea yet that to do the things I wanted, or even dreamed of, was only a matter of courage, the courage to believe in myself" (49).
Gotta get back to reading now. Maybe I will share more of my thoughts after I finish the book, which I'm guessing will be about 2 a.m.
