Day 65: City Hiking

”It’s snowing still,” said Eeyore gloomily. “So it is.” “And freezing.” “Is it?” “Yes,” said Eeyore. “However,” he said, brightening up a little, “we haven’t had an earthquake lately.”
– A.A.Milne

The ability to see the bright side of things has always been one of those catch 22 things for me. Being a Libra I like to weigh all sides of an argument or topic and sometimes the not-so-positive side is pretty convincing. The quote above, taken from Winnie the Poo, brings to life how important it is to seek out the positive, even if the negative is pulling on your pant leg. In the same way that Eeyore, in the midst of freezing and being unhappy about the cold, can see the positive, I have decided that being grumpy can coexist with being happy. I have given myself permission to be grumpy if I feel like it and not feel bad about it. Sometimes I can feel grumpy and still see the positive in life. Grumpy sometimes just goes with the territory. Like being gloomy for Eeyore (except that I am not always grumpy).

It is not snowing in Stockholm anymore. Really snowing, anyway. I am sure we will get several more bouts of snow before the cherry blossoms break open in a fury but the good news is that Stockholm doesn’t have earthquakes. One thing that Stockholm does have however is an abundance of parks and nature areas smack dab in the middle of the city. Today I went for a lunch time walk with one of my colleagues. I led her on the first half of the walk, down streets that I had discovered were the best for taking in maximum sunshine on a nice, sunny day, like today. When we were ready to turn back she asked how we should go and I said that I normally just turn around and head back. That was not happening. She said that she can never do the same thing twice so we headed off into uncharted territories, on an adventure back to our office.

Before we would return to the office we would find ourselves hiking up the side of a hill on an icy path, ducking under low lying branches of trees as we maneuvered tricky parts of the path, and hopping over boulders. All in the middle of the city. We made it back alive with no incidents and it was a whole new sort of refreshing feel to have gone “hiking” on my lunch break just steps away from my office.