Having the Energy to Make it Back

I went hiking with some friends last week. One thing you should know about these friends is that they are hike-ers! They hike often and hike for a good chunk of time. I enjoy hiking but don’t get out very often and when I do it’s probably for an hour. 2 max.

They knew this and were aware of the difference in our abilities so they kept checking to see how I was doing and if I could keep going.

Their asking reminded me a movie I had watched years ago.

The main character in the movie told a story about a competition he and his brother used to have. They would have a swim race to a buoy in a body of water near their house. He knew he had to reserve enough energy to make it back to shore, so he couldn’t give all of his effort to get to the buoy.

I had a similar thought when my friends asked if I could keep going. Did I have enough energy to make it back to the starting point? Could I keep going and still have enough energy to make it back? (Hindsight: We should have turned back sooner. I was super sore the days following! Not that the hike was difficult, but I wasn’t used to going that distance. I think they wanted to go farther and I’m sure that after we got back to the cars and I left, they went back to the mountain and found another trail.)

We all need to know our bodies. We need to know if we have enough “energy to get back”. Know when to keep pushing and when to stop. If you have a day of projects or several tasks on your to-do list do you know how far to push yourself? Can you get all those projects done and still be the best self of yourself? Or can you recognize that you can only get 4 things done on your list in order to be the calm and patient mom that you strive to be?

Be aware. Do you have enough energy to make it back?