Last week, as I went for a run, I got caught in the rain in the park at the end of my street. I had stepped out of the house and saw the black ominous clouds encroaching, but threw caution to the wind and took off. I knew it was a matter of time before the downpour began, so I wasn’t too shocked as the rain pelted down like bullets forcing me to seek a temporary refuge.

I found a tree to lean against and just relaxed and listened to a podcast. As I stood there, I began noticing little things here and there. First, it was the way the rain began trickling down the trunk of a tree. Next, it was the way the mosquitos started to fly around the tree-covered grass. (And later started landing on my legs…less interesting.) Then, I saw two deer across from me frolicking—this is really the best way to describe this. I never really paid any mind to how odd deer look when they run. Not graceful at all, but rather bumbling and awkward while still remaining cute of course.

Then, a mother duck and her five ducklings swimming in a puddle beside the creek.

I rarely take the time to slow down and observe. I barrel through life head-first, planning out my next projects and my next moves.

Getting caught in the rain forced me to slow down, if only for twenty minutes, and notice the life happening around me.

After all this life was observed, a funeral procession drove by.

It was an odd balancing and leveling that happened.

I can easily get wrapped up in my own life and planning for the next step…and when I say planning, I really mean anxiety-fueled obsessing. This has been heightened by my recent completion of my graduate degree. Where should I go? What should I do? How do I get there?

So many questions constantly rotating through my mind on a never-ending reel.

This rainy run served as a necessary reminder to take a deep breath every once in awhile and just let it be. Life will happen regardless of how much I map out the details.

…

Those are my current observations after a year’s hiatus from blogging. Eventually, and probably slowly, I’ll rehash the past year of grad school and all of the amazing experiences that occurred and the great people I met along the way. I’ll also be chronicling those next steps of life, wherever they might be. All I know for now is that I’ll be stepping out of Syracuse, New York, in two weeks.