I was a good runner today and stretched. I did it twice. That’s twice more than I’ve done all year. You know times are desperate when… My hamstring was bothering me a bit, and as my sanity and good humor depend on running daily, I took drastic measures.

I also listened to an actual book on my run instead of a podcast. Stretching AND “reading!” I hope the pandemic gods are satisfied.

I imagine most of you are familiar with the Stockdale Paradox, but I wasn’t. Admiral Stockdale was a POW in Vietnam and told the author Jim Collins (That’s not the book I was reading.) how prisoners who were optimists didn’t make it out.

“The optimists. Oh, they were the ones who said, ‘We’re going to be out by Christmas.’ And Christmas would come, and Christmas would go. Then they’d say, ‘We’re going to be out by Easter.’ And Easter would come, and Easter would go. And then Thanksgiving, and then it would be Christmas again. And they died of a broken heart. This is a very important lesson. You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end–-which you can never afford to lose–-with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.”

Clearly, this stay-at-home pandemic life can’t be compared to the experience of a POW. Still, Stockdale’s message feels very  applicable especially if you’re isolating with grumpy little kids right now. There is no reason to be optimistic that your kids will get less grumpy or emotional tomorrow. Just keep the faith that you will survive. 🙂

Running: 80 minutes easy

Does it look taller today?