My Journey With Health And Fitness – Putting Others First

It was a lovely start to the day this morning. It wasn’t raining and the temperature was above freezing. I decided it was the perfect day to do a run outside. Off I went at 6:00am (wearing my reflective jacket of course) to do a 5k. It was a great time to be out running with the exception that I hadn’t brought sunglasses or a ball cap and the last nearly 2k’s I was running with the sun in my eyes. When I got home my husband asked how my run was and I said I really enjoyed it. Those are still strange words to my ears.

Tuesday I facilitated my bi-weekly caregiver support group. It was a larger than normal group this week and I realized I was going to have to keep a tight rein on everyone’s speaking time to ensure all the participants got to speak. One of the participants is someone I know from another volunteer program I am part of arrived about 1/2 hour late. She sat down and right away I thought something is wrong here. When she was offered the floor to speak she burst into tears and I was immediately on my feet standing behind her with my arms wrapped around her as she sobbed. I stood there like that until she got her story out and I felt she ok. When the session ended I gave her a hug that lasted a long time and promised to check on her.

So why is this something to write about, I was just comforting someone. Well you see, I am one of those people that does not like being touched (oh and especially by people I don’t know extremely well). That whole hugging people to greet them or to say goodbye is horrible for me but I do it because you are supposed to. Trust me during COVID I was in my hay day as you couldn’t hug people, to me it was the best thing that happened during the 2 years of restrictions.

But Tuesday was different. I saw someone I know in serious pain and I couldn’t let her go through that alone. I didn’t think about it nor did I think about my discomfort, her needs were by far more important. I thought about it afterwards and realized it was absolutely the right thing to do, my personal issues should never come before the needs of someone who needs help. I would do it again in a heartbeat.

I’ve checked in on this person via text to make sure she is ok and has the support she needs and I will keep doing that until this crisis is over for her. It was the right time to just put someone else first.