My Addictions | Keeping up with the Walkers…

I did not have the best of week’s last week. Having received the news from my running coach that I had not followed my training schedule correctly and had therefore not improved as he would’ve liked sent me into a depressed spiral where I questioned my running and considered quitting.

I got blasted by my coach for even having thoughts of quitting. He said to me: Get your mind right!

Ironically, this is where I am lacking in “strength”. I am disciplined enough to train every day. I have even changed my diet, cutting out wheat and red meats. I drink enough water and have ensured I wear all the running gadgets one can buy. All the boxes are ticked. But getting up when I have fallen down is so difficult.

Previously, when it came to motivating myself and getting my head space right, I would sit quietly and repeat positive statements to myself. I would envisage myself running and completing races. I would fill my time with reading motivational running books. It would always be a very private and personal journey.

But there’s something I realised a few months ago when I started my blogging. When it comes to believing in my abilities, nothing helps me do that more than realising that others believe in me. In fact, spending time with people that build me up is exactly what I spent the week doing.

Dinner with a best friend (who meticulously read back to me every sentence from my coach’s email and analysed each comment with a fine tooth comb and turned each sentence into a positive statement – Marci, you mean the world to me), to the awesome run with an inspirational friend from Cape Town (Rogeema, you are too awesome for words) and an Iron Man (Morne) who surprised me with a visit, right down to the motivational tweets and caring comments on my blog telling me that quitting is not an option and that they believed in me.

There’s nothing that touched my heart more than realising that other people are so willing to share in my running pains and get me through the bad times.

I’m back up. I’m running.

Dear coach, let’s start again. I’m ready.

I’ll be the first to admit it – getting a Blackberry changed my life. It changed it in the most wonderful, but also destructive way.

It connects me… to work, to news, to old friends, to new friends, to celebrities, to communities… 24/7. No longer do I watch TV alone. I am the first to know of breaking news and events. I am connected to people I would never before have had any access to.

But just as euphoric as it has been, I have became so accustomed to it being there, that when I do not have my phone with me, I go into total melt down. And no, I am not kidding.

I have developed a habit of checking my phone every 23 seconds, sometimes, every 7 seconds. I never log off Twitter. I read work emails over the weekend and will reply without hesitation. I wake up at 2am and check my Twitter time line. I hold it in my hand while i cook supper, I take it to the loo (overshare), and even check it during runs on the treadmill at gym.

In fact, when I see that little red light flashing, my heart skips a beat. I HAVE to check my phone and respond if necessary. (Blackberry addicts, you guys know what’s it like, right?)

But here’s my dilemma.

Soon, KK and I fly out to Europe for a 3 week holiday to celebrate our wedding anniversary. I have made the decision to leave my phone at home. For 3 weeks… No Twitter. No Facebook. No BBMs. No emails.

*gasp* I know!

My friends will know that this has not been an easy decision to make. In fact, KK and I have had many arguments as to “why” I would need to take my phone with me in the first place. For someone who isn’t on social media platforms, it’s difficult to explain.

It has nothing to do with not wanting to enjoy every second of my holiday with KK. It has nothing to do with the excitement of going away. But it’s about not being able to share every precious moment with those I have become so used to sharing everything with…

I will be going from being connected to my virtual friends and chatting non-stop, to nothing. Silence.

So, yes, this will be my last blog entry for a while. My Blackberry is currently in overdrive as I send as many tweets and RT’s as I possibly can. The withdrawals will come. I know that. And I will miss it.

But the only person I want to be talking to for the next 3 weeks is KK. Because in the bigger scheme of things, that’s who matters!