Thanks for joining me for another edition of the SerenityThroughSweat blog. I wrote a while back about being brave (Fostering Comfort) referencing Ned Starks remarks in Game of Thrones. He tells his son the only time a man can be brave is when he is afraid. My dad sent me a series of quotes on my birthday this year that I think fit our current situation a little better.
“People often say I am brave, but I’ve never said I am brave. What I think I have is nerve, which is not the same thing. Being brave or being courageous is doing something you are afraid to do and I don’t do anything that I’m afraid to do. Nerve is different.When you prepare to do something, whether it’s sailing a boat across the ocean or climbing a mountain or doing anything that has an element of danger, you prepare yourself and your equipment as well as you possibly can given your resources. Having nerve is the willingness after you’ve done all your preparation to embark upon something whose outcome is uncertain and may be fatal”
Powerful words from one of the world’s greatest explorer/adventurer. Webb Chiles said this in an interview after completing his sixth solo circumnavigation of the globe at age seventy seven.
I’m not trying to compare going to the grocery store amid a global pandemic to a solo journey around the world, (although the former requires significantly more gear and planning than before all this happened). The similarity lies in the outcome, and the level of uncertainty.
This virus has turned everyday activities like shopping, walking, shaking hands, and hugging, into activities with an uncertain outcome. Trying to avoid a virus you can’t see, smell, or hear is somewhat of a sisyphean task. Even if the odds are low after coming in contact with COVID-19, the potential is there to be fatal.
That means everything we do now, what before seemed like everyday, ordinary, tasks, require nerve. We prepare our bodies, our minds, and our equipment, and then we embark on an activity whose outcome is uncertain.
In the interim, this will result in heightened levels of stress, anxiety, and fear. But, when we do finally turn the corner, we will all able to channel that nerve into other pursuits, serenity among them.
Thanks for joining me and stay sweaty my friends.
This week in quarantine; the daddy drawn coloring book expands from vehicles to dinosaurs, I try my hand at baking bread, and a quick 5k stroller run with El Duderino to maintain some sanity and Serenity if only for the briefest of moments.