Things That Won't Kill You

We all remember a time in our lives that we thought: "This is going to be the way I die" or "I probably won't survive this... I'll probably die" or "If I do this, I'll most likely die" (and then we do the thing anyway).

Like playing with an electrical socket when you are a child. You probably shouldn't. You've been told you shouldn't. You've even been told that it will hurt and you could die. Like my nephew, for example, who has been told on numerous occasions not to play with electrical sockets. He came to my sister one day and told her that he touched one in the playroom in the attic "Mommy, I got elestroscuted!". ... Um... Right. My point exactly.

That is an example of something that could actually kill you (especially if the voltage is high enough, or if your hands are wet, or some other arrangement of circumstances is in place.)

But there are often things that we imagine will kill us, and we say they will kill us, simply because we do not want to do them. When you are a child, you think that interrupting whatever important thing you are doing to take out the garbage will kill you. You think that walking the 15 minute walk to school on a hot day will kill you. You think that Your big brother or sister being in your room bothering you is probably going to kill you, because you will burst from the inside with rage that they are touching your things (even if they are not). These things will not kill you. They won't even hurt (unless of course you live in that part of Australia that doesn't have an ozone layer in which case, 15 minutes outside in the sun may actually kill you).

Yesterday, I was to go running in the mountains of Barcelona. Lovely place, really, with a church on top that you can see almost the entire way up, and lots of people sweating as they also walk, run or cycle up the mountain with you. I haven't run hard in probably 4 years because my knee bothers me if I run too hard or too long. So a woman from the gym asked me if I would like to go running with her (on a Saturday) in the mountains and I hesitantly agreed, mostly because I felt pressured to go, and partly because an actress friend of hers who does voice-over dubbing was going to go with us, so it would be a good chance to meet this person and maybe network. The friend cancelled. Of course. I was sure that this mountain run was going to kill me. Hot sun, hills, heat, sweat, being sociable (talking and running is one of the hardest things I think you can do- there is no way to sound normal while running, and breathing becomes even more laboured).

So we went, just her and I, and it wasn't so bad because she took me to a part that wasn't as hilly, and we took it pretty easy. There was never a moment on the mountain where I thought: "yes, I'm going to die up here for sure" but there were times when I thought I wanted to kill her. People don't seem to understand that while other people become very laboured in their breathing, and their shoulders slump and they sweat like crazy when they workout really hard, I am different. Through theatre I became very, very aware of my body and what it can do, and what its limits are. When I workout, I push myself, but not to the point of possible injury. I make sure that whatever I'm going, I am keeping my form correct, and breathing properly. I am also very aware of my breathing, and how important it is to breathe steady breaths while working out. I have trained myself to be hyper aware of that. I am also not a very sweaty person. So while running yesterday with this woman, I told her I needed to stop for a minute. Her reaction was: "but you're not even sweating, and your breathing is fine, and you are still keeping your form, you can't be that tired!" But yes, I can be. I'm not a wimp, and I actually pushed myself much further than I thought I would be able to yesterday, but my heart is not used to running, and neither are my legs. So when I tell you I need to stop, then trust that I know my body and stop!

Anyway, all of this was to say that running in the mountains won't kill you (unless you're attacked by a bear).

My Favourite Quote....

I don't know if I'd call it my favourite quote, but I certainly do like this one lot:

"You only life once,

but if you do it right,

once is enough"

- Mae West

 

Some people might think this is kind of cliché... I mean, hello: YOLO! I may be Canadian, but this love of this quote has nothing to do with Drake.

 

It actually has everything to do with the person who has affected my life in so many more ways than you would ever think! She and I grew up together.. we learned about life together... and her time was limited. Well, guess what: all of us have limited time, we just don't know how limited it is, or isn't. Some people live until they are 80 or 90 and some only live until their 20's or 30's or God forbid, they don't even get that much time. Well, no matter how much time you have, or don't have, make sure you live your life right! I'm not talking about a "correct" way of living, but of making sure you don't go through life forgetting to live it.

 

So here is to living life only once, but making sure that all of the time you have, is spent well.

 

Happy thoughts people.

 

xo