The Lost Art of Intentionality
I run.
I have a friend training for a marathon. Today, he and I ran 20 miles. It rained all night, stopping only minutes before we left. At one point during the run, it even snowed lightly.
And yet we ran. Mile after mile. He’s been a runner for more than 30 years. I’ve been running for about 10. Neither of us runs particularly fast so our 20 mile run took just over 3.5 hours.
That type of running doesn’t happen by accident. Most people don’t walk outside and just decide to run 20 miles. For people in moderate to good shape, it can take months or years of training to work up to that distance.
When I got home, I was exhausted. I smelled terrible. My kids don’t even like to be in the same room with me after a run like that.
I sat down to eat something and immediately pulled out my phone.
News.
Social media.
Email.
Before I knew it, I had squandered 30 minutes.
Now, 30 minutes isn’t that long. The fact that I wasn’t intentional about why I pulled out my phone, however, meant that those 30 minutes were gone. Essentially wasted. I can’t tell you anything particular about what I read on the news or social media. I responded to a few work-related emails. On Saturday…
