What do you do to destress?

An interviewer asked me this question at a job interview a couple of weeks back. (An aside: I didn't get the job. ) My answer: Sometimes I go for a run. The interviewer replied that stress normally tends to interfere with exercise... That is partially true for me, and partially not- depending on where I am at. 2 years back when I first started running and was stressed there was nothing better for me than heading out to the beach and burning off some steam. I'm not there now. With my sore foot (which became sore thankfully the day after my 10km last weekend, instead of before), I've not been out all week. What do I do now? Listen to the tunes of singers that touch my soul... Josh Groban is a great example- but Hugh Panaro would also be on the list if I could find more of his music. His facebook fan page said his first solo album is on its way out- so I hope it does come sometime soon. (Hugh was the "Phantom" when I saw "Phantom of the Opera" on broadway a few years back. I've never been so impacted by a voice. Wow. What else can I say...)



I worked the whole day yesterday and half the day today. That is my first whole weekend working since I've been in NZ. Back in Blenheim days I once put in one Saturday. And so now, I listen to Josh.



I've been thinking deep questions about life of late. Musing, yes, and not coming up with many solutions to my own questions. How do you know when you are in the right place in life? (Job, physical location, the list goes on...) Is there even a right place, or is what you've got what you make of it- regardless of where you are?



When I worked my first summer job as a painter 13 years ago there was a country song that used to play on the radio- Ty Herndon's "Living in a Moment"-

"And when they carve my stone all they need to write on it

Is once lived a man who got all he ever wanted

Tell me somethin, who could ask for more

Than to be livin in a moment you would die for"

I love those moments. I think of them and I wonder... Because I dream dreams which appear contradictory and struggle with the inherent contradiction. I want contentment (which familiarity often breeds)- and yet I want the unknown and the new- for all of those special unexpected moments which are not planned.... The mirror water images that Chrys and I encountered when we did an unplanned last stop walk in the Canadian Rockies. Getting caught in a downpour in Edam when we missed our tour bus from Amsterdam and waiting it out under a tree. How great it felt to be in hot hot hot Rome. My holiday on horseback when we got off the horses at the top of a great hill- me sitting next to our high school aged guide who told me he couldn't think of any other better job than getting paid to ride horses. Seeing Parliament Hill for the first time- and how it felt to walk through the halls after sneaking out of the United Alternative convention- Contemplating for a moment and shivering to think of those who have served and for what has been done. (For me- Politics is the art of the possible... ) Special moments. I remember, and I contemplate...