Endorphins

7:00 a.m. The alarm is screaming at me to get out of bed, rise and shine. And the tone is roosters crowing. You know how annoying roosters can be at 7:00 a.m.??? Especially when I know that I don't have to leave home for work until 10:00. That really doesn't help. I only hit snooze once, I swear, and then at 7:10 I crawled out of bed, threw my hair into a ponytail, grabbed a light jacket, my tennis shoes, and my mp3 and headed out for some exercise. I know I always feel better after I've done something besides lying in bed. So why is it so difficult to actually do it? I never really fall back to sleep after the alarm has gone off, I just lie there and doze or think and contemplate getting up and doing something. But nonetheless it is no easy feat dragging my behind out the door.

It's 55 outside this morning. Overcast, with a kind of wetness in the air. Miserable. And then, about 20 minutes into my walk, Michael Jackson's The Way You Make Me Feel comes on the player, and my step picks up a bit, and the weather just seems absolutely beautiful to me! I'm just starting to sweat a little bit, wondering if I've even come close to burning off any of those chocolate chip cookies I had last night (hey they were the soft bake!! I couldn't resist) and suddenly the world was golden. A smile broke out on my face, and I just wanted to keep on walking. Thought (very briefly) about jogging, even. I turned up the volume, picked up my pace even more, and wow... everything of the last few weeks that seems to have been getting to me and building up just disappeared. Life is good. Endorphins are great. Better than chocolate chip cookies even.