Exposing the Cold Gap

Running in the winter is a bit of a hassle sometimes. During the coldest of those days, usually early in the morning, I wear layers of clothes, including a long-sleeve t-shirt and tights to keep my legs warm, a hat and gloves, and sometimes a light jacket.

All those clothes help protect you from the cold temperatures to an extent, but it also slows you down (not that I need much help in that area).

However, there’s one part of my body that’s not shielded. I wear very short socks when running that only come up to my ankle. And my tights don’t quite come all the way down. In between there’s a small band of skin on my lower leg that’s totally exposed to whatever the elements might offer on that day.

The Cold Gap.

That one small, narrow band of skin on my lower leg that feels the cold instantly.

And, contrary to what you might think, it feels exhilarating.

That one part of my body feels alive and tingles as it’s exposed and open to the world.

And that’s my goal for 2015 – to expose more areas of my life-like the Cold Gap. To open myself up to new challenges and opportunities.

It’s not very specific, I know. I do have some specific goals, but those were already set before the close of the year. I’m in the midst of trying to drop 22 pounds by the first of July. I also want to finish my first novel that I started writing this year.

But most of my goals are much more general. I’m reading a book by Zig Ziglar, who I admire very much. He stresses six fundamental areas of our lives: spiritual, mental, physical, family, career, and financial. It reminds me very much of the areas of our life that Benjamin Franklin stressed in his autobiography.

I want to improve in each of those areas, but how do you measure that? You can’t, except by your own standards.

But for many of us, those standards are pretty high.

So as this year comes to an end, and we look forward to what 2015 will bring, I’ll be looking for ways that I can continue to improve myself. And my life.

And I’ll be looking for ways to widen the Cold Gap and embrace the excitement that life has to offer.