Dear Soft, Warm Bed,

I want to thank you for the recent rest you have offered me and helping me improve that super important sleep score I have been seeking. As I figure out how to accomplish the sleep I need to be at my best all day, I will continue to need your partnership. I will Improve my consistency tucking you in each morning and offering you clean covering more frequently. I will continue to offer you a third of my life because of how important you are to me so this next part may come as a bit surprise to you.

After I finally escaped your grip this morning I found myself wandering downstairs for a stretch/warmup and then finally finding myself outside for a run in freezing temperatures. The more I find myself running in the morning wrapped in this challenging Wisconsin climate the more I realize what I am missing out on because of our relationship. Your intentions of keeping me warm and comfortable is admirable but sadly they are proving to be quite enabling. A block away from my house I can feel your pull with every doubt in my head for why I am out here. I can already feel the freeze on my fingertips through my gloves. I tuck my thumbs inside my fingers to keep them as warm as possible.

After a mile, and creating some distance from you, I begin to warm up and all I see is the path ahead of me. I start to lean into the wind instead of avoiding it. I keep a close eye on the ground below me avoiding frozen patches and keeping myself planted. These Zero shoes keep me engaged with the terrain below me. A mile and half in and I am feeling my stride, you are no longer a consideration as I turn to head back east and I am faced with that beautiful sunrise. If time could only slow down and allow this moment to last a little longer.

Finally, my breathing is less labored, my body is in a rhythm, and the wind is now to my back. I now start to recognize, perhaps, you are not making me comfortable, you are making me soft and those are very different things. I am built to be on this path pushing myself through discomfort, becoming one with the elements and watching this incredible sun unveil itself. With it’s rise I begin to feel a strength in me that you, my bed, can not offer me this morning.

During my 3rd mile and before returning home I am reminded each day, on each run how strong I can be if I am willing to leave comforts like you behind and offer myself a daily reminder of what I am capable of. Anything! We are all pure potential if we are willing to take that next step away from comfort and predictability and toward challenge and vulnerability.

Dear Bed, I still need you and appreciate you. I need the rest and I appreciate how cozy you are when the time comes, at night, to lay down and sleep. To be clear, in the mornings you will no longer own me. My stretches/warm up, my run, my pull-up bar and 100 push-ups are calling my name. The time for enabling is over and moving forward you and I will work together to make the strongest version of me, on my terms. I am looking forward to growing this relationship and proving to you what I am capable of. Starting now, you will be supporting a conquerer of his own goals.

See you tonight,

Me