dog tired???

I hesitated bombarding you with this image on your Monday. But then I could find no other image/words to describe just how tired I am. Dog tired comes close. (Did I mention May is crazy?)

This is my brother's dog, a German short-haired pointer named Otto. 

I have linked you to the Wikipedia description of a GSP here because Wiki does a fairly good job at describing what I witnessed yesterday: an animal hell bent on expending energy and wiping himself out in the process.  

That look on his face is saying two things...

One: Pick up the friggin' ball at your feet human, I am so anxious and eager to play I can't even stand it!

Two: I am soooooo exhausted that my tongue has exerted a life of its own and I am panting for breath and I need water and a shady tree to rest under but I don't give a rip because I want you to pick up the dang ball!

Otto is amazingly agile, quick, smart, relational. His reflexes are intense. His energy seemly limitless, until you catch him with his tongue wagging and his breath panting. He is an incredibly smart dog but stupid enough not to listen to his body's need for rest. And even when you say, "Give it up dog," he will continue to nudge that ball at your feet and wait...and wait. He knows not when to stop until his body makes the decision for him. For him, to work is to play and to play is to work. Sleep comes when he passes out or nobody responds to the ball he has thrown at their feet. Such a beautiful silly, silly dog. (Look at those ears!)

Just as I was laughing at Otto's silly behavior (ha ha ha) I had this connection of deep thoughts. So surprising, I know. So read on if you wanna hear them...

I was talking with a friend the other day about our crazy lives and I made a comment to her how I believed that we were not made to run our life like a marathon, but rather in sprints with periods of recovery. I mean, marathons are cool and all, but I meant running a life marathon. Marathons require your body to engage in physical exertion for long distances without moments of rest and recovery. You go and go and push yourself to your physical limit in the hopes of getting to the finish line. But when you sprint you expend all your energy in one fierce push and then stop and recover to let your heart rest. 

It's a basic physiological principal: when you push your heart or muscle with appropriate amounts of stress, then stop to rest, the recovery actually aids in building a stronger, healthier, flexible, agile muscle. We can prove this with science and research and yet our nation is suffering under what I call the "marathon mentality". We are running here and there, piling our plates with activities and obligations, expending massive amounts of energy, all with our tongues handing out of our mouth. We are unable to stop. You see, life marathons create an illusion of productivity, success, and engagement but they fail at improving health, strength, perseverance, agility, vitality. In fact, the result is that we have to call in reinforcements, draw upon outside sources of energy, to keep ourselves from buckling under the pressure. (Ever wonder why Starbucks is on every corner? Red Bull making a killing? Fast food at every freeway exit?) And we are becoming weaker, fatter, more disease ridden than any other nation in the world. All for running life marathons. Who are we kidding?

It's madness people, simply madness. 

And I am guilty of this mentality when I am not present enough to stop it. When I am not watchful, I order my life in such a fashion that it necessitates the constant running. It drives me nuts. ARG!

Who really wants to be caught on camera standing in a circle of humans with a tongue hanging so far out of her mouth that it's laughable?  If you somehow catch me in such a fine moment it will be a dead give away that I cannot give to myself what everybody else around me knows that I need: rest.

Without rest the marathon is deadly. So join me in just saying no to the marathon. We don't need them.  Our bodies can't take them.

It's Monday, the start of your week. If you have hit the ground running, please make it a sprint.

Thanks for listening. :)