For the Birds
I hate birds.
I just think birds are vile and disgusting creatures, especially pigeons. They’re flying rats and there are far too many of them in the world.
On Saturday’s run I passed two or three dead pigeons lying on the road, one of which was decapitated. And at one point I was running along, minding my business, when a pigeon landed about two feet in front of my feet, rolled on it’s back and started twitching around. It freaked me out! I ran around the nasty thing and it was still twitching around, like it was having a seizure. I don’t like birds, but that’s still kind of sad.
Okay, so why am I rambling on about birds?
Well, I recently read a line in a book that said:
The thoughts fluttered around in my brain. Like a sparrow that has flown down the chimney and been trapped under the attic roof.
That just struck me because it totally describes me. Too often I get worked up over something, the words are just flying around in my head. And sometimes it feels like there isn’t enough room in there for everything I start to accumulate: my rational/irrational insecurities, fears, stressors, worries, concerns… those things take up a lot of space.
But when I run, a lot of those things tend to quiet. I feel a little more at peace in those moments. As if the sparrows in my brain have been released, my so-called “attic roof” is no longer keeping them in there.
And while I enjoy that respite, I do need to find other ways to keep my mind cleared. I can’t just run off all the time, trying to escape my thoughts. Physically my body wouldn’t let me, time-wise life won’t let me. I need to learn to sit with these thoughts, acknowledge them and release them on my own.
But for now, I will continue to use running to aid the process. Somehow the pressure has to be released.
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That’s a nice way to describe what running does for me too! Calms the birds.
BTW…I hate birds too. Ever since I saw Hitchcock’s The Birds a long time ago…they just freak me out!
The birds in the attic is a great way to describe the thoughts that make us go, well, batty!! Thanks for mentioning the weirdness this sometimes creates. I use running for the same reason… quiets the soul, keeps it all real, allows me to be a person my family actually wants to be around.
Don’t step on the dead ones, they’re kind of squishy!
I always think how boring a pigeons life must be…just walking around bobbing their heads in and out all day. Booorriiing!
Along the same lines as the quote I put on my FB page from Born to Run. I totally get you on this one.
I think a lot of people are that way. I know I am . . . and actually, that’s a really great way to explain my so-called “obsession” with running to non-running people, I think. So thanks for that!
And yuck, pigeons are seriously the grossest things ever! Why do they even exist?!
Hey, I just found your blog through runners lounge. Not sure why I didn’t find it before…we follow a lot of the same runners out there!!
Thanks for stopping by! I look forward to broadening my blog circle by following yours!
Nice quote! I actually like most birds, but pigeons are pretty nasty. I’m always surprised when I see them on the menu in other countries.