Daily Chatter

Friday, January 28, 2011

Commitment

com·mit·ment
–noun

1. the act of committing.
2. the state of being committed.
3. the act of committing, pledging, or engaging oneself.
4. a pledge or promise; obligation: 
5. engagement; involvement: 
6. perpetration or commission, as of a crime.
7. consignment, as to prison.
8. confinement to a mental institution or hospital:
9. an order, as by a court or judge, confining a person to a mental institution or hospital.
10. Law . a written order of a court directing that someone be confined in prison; mittimus.
11. Parliamentary Procedure . the act of referring or entrusting to a committee for consideration.
12. Stock Exchange .
a. an agreement to buy or sell securities.
b. a sale or purchase of securities.

I reflect on this word today.  The 264th day of my running streak.  
With tonight's run, I will have ran 264 miles for the month

As Dictionary.com defines commitment I wonder how often we forget a few points of it's definition.

No.  I am not talking about the confinement to a mental institution or a court order.  We all may be able to identify with those definitions from time to time. 

I am talking about engaging oneself and involvement.

How often do we simply go through the routine or schedule of our days and not truly engage with our families and friends?  How often are you guilty of simply putting in the miles and not enjoying the act of running?  Isn't that why we are doing this?  Because we enjoy it?
It goes for all areas in our lives, how often do we sit done for a meal and not even taste what we are eating, not really listen to our kids telling us the hundreds of things they ramble on about...
I am sure we would all say that we are committed to our families, our friends, our jobs, our running but are we remembering that part of the commitment is to engage oneself?

As we head into another weekend of long runs and races, let's all remember to fully honor those commitments, to engage ourselves completely.  Perhaps in doing so we will have our journey slightly sweeter, more amazing, anything but ordinary every single day. 

16 comments:

  1. WOW! Thanks for these awesome words of wisdom. I was just thinking along these lines the other night when I was at our Team In Training Kick Off party.
    1) it's not about the training or the race...it's ABOUT THE PEOPLE who are fighting cancer and it's about fund raising for a cure!
    2) It's not about me concentrating on myself during our group runs. It's about helping out the newbies as they face the unknown of triathlon training.

    Thanks for emphasizing this today!

    ReplyDelete
  2. u r very committed! that is true!
    u r one committed rockstart!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Great words of wisdom, Shelly! Thanks for that.

    ReplyDelete
  4. This weekend will be my first long run since October 22, 2009 (when I was preggo with Gilly). Thank you for this inspiration as I head into it!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Great post as always ... dang, you're nearing the 300 days of running post - amazing!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Ahhhh, so true! I really try to make a concerted effort to COMMIT to everything I do, from the mundane to the extraordinary. I like to make it count and NOT simply go through the motions.

    Enjoy the weekend!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. ...thanks Shelly...I really needed this; I know I haven't been engaged with much lately. :S thank you

    ReplyDelete
  8. Wonderful words ~ there is beauty in the ordinary ~ we must Pause and pay attention to the people we love the most ~ thanks for the reminder :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Excellent post, thanks Shelly!
    (no package today....but maybe tomorrow :))
    HUGS!

    ReplyDelete
  10. LOVE this.

    And you are amazing - 264 days, 264 miles this month...you are not squeaking this streak by. Rather, there are lots of days I see you running twice. Your commitment is inspiring...

    ReplyDelete
  11. Commitment is so important in all parts of life. It is one of the key principles that I teach at school and to my own kids (the other is courtesy).

    You are committed and compassionate in many aspects of your own life - two of the many things I love about you.

    ReplyDelete
  12. You're amazing, thanks for the words of wisdom. I'm not engaged in my day to day life nearly enough.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Thanks for the great post! You continue to inspire me. 264!!!

    ReplyDelete
  14. You bring up a good point- its one thing to live but a whole nother thing to be alive!

    ReplyDelete