
I saw him a few feet away from the gushing water.
“Oh! I wonder what happened?” I thought.
I kept running and realized that he was a city worker cleaning the gutters before the rainy season kicks in. I wanted to say thank you to him for helping us create such a beautiful community, but my pace carried me through the puddles quickly and he was already behind me.
“Oh well. Maybe next time.” I consoled myself knowing that I wouldn’t say it next time either. It’s just too weird for some random runner to say something so personal to a stranger. So I let it all go with my next exhale and got on with my run.
On the way home, I rounded the corner by the church and low and behold who do you think was now cleaning the gutters up ahead a block?! Yup, it was him. The city worker had progressed down the street and I was once again approaching him. But, this time I had plenty of time to figure out what I was going to say and say it. Crap! Why did the “next time” have to be so close to the first time?
The voice of fear kicked in and said, “What kind of freak gives compliments to city workers? He doesn’t care what you think. Just keep on running. No one will ever know you thought about saying thanks and didn’t.”
Whew. What was I going to do? Was I going to give in to fear and say nothing? Or was I going to risk looking like a freak?
One step in front of the next.
Heart pounding.
Out of breath.
Here he is.
“Thank you!” I said and smiled at him.
He looked up startled.
We made eye contact.
“For all that you do for our community,” I explained.
His expression softened into a smile, “You’re welcome.”
The surge of exhilaration I felt prompted me to jump over the next puddle! I almost cleared it. Instead I splashed right on by and ran the rest of the way home with a big ass smile.
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Tags: 100 Things I Fear, courage, fear, negative self talk, success