What does being content with your life look like?

Contentment is a state of happiness and satisfaction.

It’s not all beer and skittles but sometimes things just work out…

It’s funny that I’m in the middle of writing a post about losing my mojo and have been writing it for some time now. I seem to have hit a roadblock with motivation, passion, ideas and even writing the actual post but this weekend, things all came together for me in another area of my life at least.

Mother’s Day Classic 2019

It was Mother’s Day here in Australia over the weekend and every year for the past 5 years or so I have run in the Mother’s Day Classic in Canberra. Some years it’s been with my daughter and son-in-law, some years it’s just been me and the thousands of others who support this great cause. I know of other friends who make this an annual event with family for their own reasons. My friend Sue from Sizzling towards 60 and Beyond wrote a post yesterday about her annual tradition of running with her daughter, in memory of her mother.

This annual event helps to raise money and support for Breast Cancer research and I’ve always been happy to donate to this worthy cause.

It’s inspiring to know that in 22 years of the Mother’s Day Classic events around Australia, over $35 million dollars has been raised with 1.27million participants. I’m proud to be counted in those numbers.

Mother’s Day Classic

Those attending tend to be happy and ready for anything the weather can throw at them. Some dress up, there’s a lot of pink around and it’s an event suitable for all ages, whether you want to run 10km, 5 km or walk the course or push your baby in a pram. The Canberra event is the closest for me but is still a 3 hour drive from home for me!

This year it held special significance as my sister has recently had surgery and treatment for Breast Cancer, which she has written about in her own blog Musings from the Cold.

Despite not having done much actual running lately, I was determined to give it a go again this year. I have been walking, riding my bike and keeping active just not a lot of running for various reasons, mainly isolation and motivation I think. (Back to my post I’m trying to write as mentioned above.)

I’m never going to be a fast runner but I am committed. I had a few issues with sore hips, tight muscles and concerns about my fitness in the days before the race. Then on the morning of the run I woke with a cricked neck, not able to move it much to the left and with general soreness throughout my body.

It was a freezing cold, grey foggy Canberra morning but I was determined to make an effort and resigned myself to walking the 5kms, something I knew I could manage. I sent a message to my sister (who is in Melbourne) to say I wasn’t able to run but would still turn up, and she was happy with that. In fact she told me a gentle walk was all that was required and to not push myself.

I was taken by surprise at the emotion I felt looking around at the crowd, the tribute cards, the entertainment, the displays, the information – despite having done it all before. It was the personal attachment I now had through my sister’s diagnosis and I was feeling very emotional as a result. I participated in the warm up activities and felt quite good heading to the starting line. Did I mention it was only 4 degrees at the start of the run??

I decided that I could start off by running, as my husband suggested, and gradually slow down to a brisk walk as the crowd thinned out around me.

Instead I started running and didn’t stop! The whole 5km!! I started pacing behind a few other runners but ended up passing them, so I latched onto someone else and she slowed down after a while and I kept going. It wasn’t easy, or very pretty, but at the 3km mark I said to myself, you’ve run this far you might as well keep running. And I did just that.

I smiled and thanked the volunteers as I went by, laughed at the entertainers and encouraged other runners as I ran with them. I remember the run in 2017 where two unknown ladies took me under their wing towards the end of the race and helped me finish running and not walking as I was slowing down in the last bit. They gently pushed me along and I like to think I did that to one or two other runners yesterday – paying it forward so to speak.

“Be content with what you have;
rejoice in the way things are.
When you realize there is nothing lacking,
the whole world belongs to you.” 

Lao Tzu

I was so pleased with my effort and thrilled that the emotion pushed me on. I was running for my sister and I didn’t want to let her down. It wasn’t my fastest 5km but considering the lack of training I wasn’t surprised, but the fact that I just kept on running and managed to finish made me so happy.

At the end of the run I messaged my sister to tell her I’d actually ran all the way, and her response was, “I thought you’d find it difficult not to run”. She knows me only too well 🙂 . She also said it could have been so easy for me not to even show up, and that had flashed through my mind a few times during the morning. But show up I did!!

A funny moment on the run – my husband was waiting to get a photo of me near the finisher’s zone but he didn’t recognise me as I’d taken off my gloves, beanie and jacket along the way. I yelled at him while waving madly and as he started getting his camera ready, I ended up having to run backwards just so he could get this photo of me!! It just shows I’ll do anything for a photo! It probably took minutes off my official time too 🙂

Are you content?

So in answer to my own question, yes generally I am content. There are lots of areas of my life that I need to work on but at this moment in time I can honestly say I am content. How about you?

I am satisfied and content with my efforts; my 58 year old body; my family and my health. That to me, indicates a sense of contentment 🙂

My family celebrated Mother’s Day in a lovely way, sending messages and giving and receiving gifts. I spent the day with one of my daughters, a son-in-law, my granddaughter and my husband. We had a delicious lunch out with friends and I sent messages to my mother, mother-in-law and my sister. It was lovely to celebrate with my daughter as it was her first Mother’s day as a new mother and my first as a grandmother – so special!!

I hope you can find some contentment in your life, some satisfaction with your achievements.

 In the meantime, I’ll continue working on my draft post and maybe one day, it will get finished.

Deb xx

********************************

Linking up to Denyse’s #Lifethisweek with the prompt of Contentment and Midlife Share the Love Party 66 #mlstl

Are you on Instagram? Check out Deb’s World here: Instagram for photo updates

You can also find Deb’s World on various other platforms – let’s stay in touch! Click any of the links below.

Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook,  Flipboard and Mix

You can contact me by clicking here