Cold rain lashes against your face. The wailing wind echoes in your ears like the whooping screams of a thousand haunters. Fog and darkness limit your view to a tiny box. There is no light. The cold creeps up your skin. Starting from the bare parts of your arms and legs to reach your clothes-covered torso and abdomen. You know it’s time to move.
Your first moves are shaky. But every move shakes off the fatigue. Every move relieves the stress you experience every day. Every move combats all the hours you spend sitting, waiting and wishing. Sitting in the office, the bus or your car. Waiting for the end of the workday or the arrival at your destination. Wishing for a happier, more exciting life.
With every move, you unravel a bit from the feeling you were a hard-tied knot. You continue. You keep up because you know it’s worth it. You feel it. You realize that a happier, more exciting life won’t come to you by chance. You have to achieve it, you must earn it.
You keep going. Your first moves were shaky but you get more steady. You embrace your progress. You have earned it, you have reached this point by yourself.
You are calm. You are in a zen-like state of mind. Your breath is deep and consistent. Alike are your steps, one after one another. You move at your own pace. It seems like there is nothing around you. As if you are moving in a blank white space where time and weather have no impact. Or is it everything around you?
Your focus is inward, you focus on yourself. You have reached the state where nothing else matters. It’s just you and yourself. And you keep going.
You don’t let these thousand haunters get you. The cold rain bounces off your face. The wailing wind drifts past your ears. And your eyes may only see in a limited box but your mind sees everything. You let the cold creep up your skin, just to embrace it as an opportunity to refresh.
Nothing will hold you back ever again.
I wrote this because sometimes it can be hard to keep pushing yourself to exercise outside during the winter months. Don’t let wintriness kill your vibe. I described it as “making moves” because you can adapt this to any situation. Wintriness is just another word for any obstacle you may come across when you try to reach your goal. Don’t let any hurdles hinder you. And remember that the biggest hurdle may be your mind.