Unlocking my potential, part 1

When I quit my job a month ago, I committed myself to avoid drifting into a haze of anxious puttering and Law & Order re-runs as I waited for the next thing to emerge.  Consulting projects and income would come.  What I needed was something of a personal re-boot.  I had allowed myself to become trapped in an uncomfortable cocoon of stress and dysfunction at my former job.  It was time to allow a new version of myself to emerge.   

Step one:  grow a beard and stick with it.  I've dabbled with vacation stubble off and on for years, but this time I would suffer through the itchy weeks and live life as a bearded gentleman for a while.  A few weeks into it, I had a remarkable experience.  I had just negotiated the final details of my exit from my job and took myself out to lunch for a vietnamese bun sandwich to celebrate.  After lunch I went to the restroom to wash up and as I washed my hands in the sink I took a glance at the man looking back at me in the mirror.  For the first time in months, if not years, I saw myself.  The stress of my job had created a veil that obscured an essential part of my spirit.  In a split second, my internal voice rattled off a conversation, "There you are.  Good to see you again.  Ready to move on?  Let's do it."

Step two:  Exercise.  I have often said that "I don't run."  A lifelong swimmer, sometimes at a competitive level, my chosen exercise was always in the pool.  The problem with swimming is that you need to find a pool with either a team or very low attendance during lap swimming hours.  Otherwise, swimming becomes a crowded freeway of frustration, avoiding the heads-up breaststroker who errantly found his way to the Fast lane, dodging the too-wide stroke of the triathlete who thinks they are faster than they really are, or gasping in amazement when the woman in the flowered cap decides to circle swim in your lane. When I left my job, I had been out of swimming shape for months.  I was ready for something new.  I would try running.   My first day was an utter disaster.  Taking the advice of my ultra-marathon runner Paul, I decided to do a mix of running and walking.  Two miles into a disciplined routine of 2 minutes running, one minute walking,  I found myself knocked to the ground on Crissy Field, with a leg cramp that felt like a ruptured tendon.  Little by little, I've worked out the cramps and have run as much as 6.5 miles up and down Golden Gate Park.  I run on the levy along the Russian River where I've been greeted by a coyote.  I have perhaps prematurely boasted that I want to do a marathon before I turn 50 (in 17 months), but as I progress, I can start seeing that goal as achievable. 

Step 3:  Go on an adventure.  To mark the change in my employment situation and open this new chapter, I decided I needed to get out of town.  I thought about a road trip, but early January, with short days and iffy weather, was probably not the best time to drive to the Grand Canyon.  I thought about a writing workshop, but (surprise), I could find no workshops open for enrollment two or three weeks before they started.  So, I landed on doing a Spanish immersion program in Mexico.  I debated between an array of cute colonial cities, Oaxaca, Morelia, San Miguel de Allende, but ended up deciding to spend ten days in Mexico City.  I enrolled in an intensive five day program with five hours of classes each day. I found an apartment to rent on Airbnb.  I bought my ticket and started anxiously awaiting the trip.