I started this month intending to post every day. I was doing that until yesterday.
Yesterday I had a special event that I had been planning for a month. I was going to do a 5K for the Lymphoma & Leukemia Society. I did the fund raising and met my goal of $100.
This Light the Night event was being held in Chicago, about an hour away from where I live.
Because everyone was working, I was going to have to go alone. I was OK with that – I need to face small fears like that in order to grow.
I planned my day – when I was going to leave, which train to take, even where to eat dinner. I studied the map of the event over and over.
I had everything planned out. Everything except 2 things.
I forgot to write a post ahead of time.
And then – here’s the big, embarrassing, totally ADD one: I assumed that I knew where the train station was and I assumed that I knew how to get to the event.
Wrong.
I found myself many miles north of the train station just minutes before it was to leave the station. Thankfully I made it in time.
I got to Chicago and headed towards the event. It was supposed to be less than a mile away.
I thought I knew where I was going.
I was wrong.
You would think a thousand or so people running with lit balloons in their hands would be noticeable.
Apparently not.
I walked for an hour and a half before calling it quits. That’s way more than I would have done in the race had I found it.
Then I got lost trying to get back to the train station to have dinner. Luckily when I asked for directions I wasn’t that far away.
I’m too embarrassed to tell you how long it took me to find the actual building – even though I knew the street corner it was on. And I don’t think I will mention how long it took me after I found the building to figure out how to get in it.
Really – it’s not natural to go down to the basement level to enter a building.
I got back – finally – and had a very good dinner.
But now I had 2 hours before the next train.
I called my husband, who reminded me that Macy’s was close by. Maybe a hour or two of shopping?
Can I tell you I couldn’t find Macy’s in downtown Chicago?
By the time I got home – 8 hours later – I was tired and my feet hurt.
But here’s the good news about all this: even though my ADHD worked long and hard against me, I basically did what I set out to do.
The Lymphoma & Leukemia Society got their donation and I got my workout and then some. I faced my fear about going unfamiliar places alone and won.
Maybe we should start an ADD 5K. Maybe not.
