Fun Friday

I had started a post yesterday, in which i was going to be more upbeat about the dreadmill, and trying to embrace the treadmill, and not harp on the rubber band of doom any longer.
This is not that post.
I have decided to go ahead with the Fun Foto Friday meme. Please allow me to pre-empt it by expressing my sympathies to a friend of mine (who isn't a reader, but deserves mention anyway) who's husband lost his battle with cancer early this morning. I had only met him on a few occasions, and they were all while he was a patient and i was helping to care for him. The news was expected, in as much as this type of thing can be 'expected', but it still threw me for a little spin. I am better now, and have regained focus.
Which is what brings me to today's Fun Foto Friday offering. Let's look at a familiar scene from someone else's perspective. I am sure that those of you who have not been living under a rock (or in Siberia) will recognize this scene from the Original Star Wars movie, now know as Episode IV:

"these aren't the droids you are looking for"

Let's see it from the poor StormTrooper's perspective, and try to tie it all in to real life. Stay with me on this, ok? Thanks. They KNOW that these really are the droids that they are looking for. They have been briefed. They read the memo. They have all seen the films, read the blogs of other Troopers, tweeted about their plan of action. Then this old guy comes along waving his fingers basically tricking the Troopers into believing that what they actually believe about the situation is FALSE. For an instant, they question their training, their instinct, their prime directive, and then fall for this false prophet (remember, from the StormTroopers' perspective. we all know that ObiWan is a good guy).
Later, after a few rounds at the local cantina, the poor, defeated, and now a$$-less (from the chewing? hello!) StormTroopers are left to reflect on their day and the choices that they have made (as I am sure most of us do, no?) Suddenly, he realizes that he as been duped, and is downtrodden. He goes into a period of beating himself up for not following his gut, for not trusting his instinct, for not following plan.

self interrogation can lead to misery. don't let it.

It is easy to get caught in the trap of self loathing and self pity. Am I right? during this time, however, we need to reconnect with the things that brought us to where we started along our path as well as refocus on the destination. Ever so often, moments of clarity will seem to fall into place, most often from sources that you wouldn't expect. I find that it is during those times that we need to be most open to learning from various sources, rethink things that we have cast aside in the past and explore them deeper, and even reach out to others for help. It can come from the strangest of places.

why can't I be this clever?

My message today is to never give up. Set a goal, have an idea, make a plan. People and situations will come along and (for good and bad) cause you to stray from your course. Don't let them take over. Take time to regroup, to refocus, to re-evaluate. Find new ways to stay on track. If you need other resources, seek them out, and don't be afraid to back track. But keep the end in mind, and go for it!