You're never alone

Because I had to leave home early, it meant I had to get up and run my mile-and-a-bit at 5 am, in the dark once again with a head torch the past two mornings.

It was a bit of a shock to the system after weeks of running in daylight.

I was interested to see if I'd actually catch site of any other living soul during my twelve to thirteen minutes of being an adventurer in a quiet, shady world.

Day one I caught sight of two sets of cats' eyes (the ones owned by real live cats, not the one that warn motorists where they are on the road). The second day I was almost home when I met a man walking and whispered an early good morning.

Thinking about it, I don’t think I’ve ever managed to run without seeing another living soul.

That got me thinking about times when I have felt that I'm alone, and whether we are ever really alone.

Times when I feel alone are those times when I feel upset, sad, frustrated, overwhelmed or that life is just leaning all it’s weight on me. It almost feels like life is conspiring against me and that perhaps I'm not sufficiently equipped to deal with all the challenges that are before me.

When I come out of those mental and emotional dips I always realise that I'm not alone, I have family, friends and people that love me.

Also, whatever I'm feeing there is also bound to be someone somewhere else in the world who is having almost identical negative feelings that I'm experiencing right now. Just by dint of this fact means that there is a connection, even if it invisible, between myself and someone else somewhere.

So, in those challenging times, no matter if it doesn’t seem like it, I am actually never alone. Just knowing that always helps me.

Once again my running gives me reminders of this, like it does about so many other aspects of life.

And if I'm never alone, I reckon the same thing applies to you.