A pet peeve: I’m an outdoorsy person who hates the outdoors —-

  or rather the outdoors hates me

Sometimes I think I am weird. Other times I know that I am weird. All of the time I know that everyone has quirks. There really is no such thing as a non-weird person. It is all a matter of what level of weirdness it is that you can tolerate for yourself and in others.  But I digress. But then again, this is meant to be random.

Now that I have that out of the way, let me just state it has been one long week after another where I barely have time to sit and think about where I am going and where I am at now.  In that vein, I took a bath where I tried to not look at emails for about 20 minutes. In those 20 minutes, I just sat there and soaked. In the middle of all the bubbles, I started thinking about how weird it is that I like the outdoors, but I also hate the outdoors.  I shook my head at myself and wondered why I had to be so complicated. I also wondered why I was thinking about that during the time I was trying to decompress.  Again, I will leave that to others to analyze. I’ve already engaged in to much introspection for my liking and time constraints.

Here’s the deal. I love hiking. I love climbing grand heights to smell clean air and see beyond the horizon. I love taking photos of beautiful flowers in the wild. I just love walking, period. I enjoy picking new paths and seeing where it will go. Is that a metaphor for my life? Sure why not?  I love exercising and think hiking gives one the best of everything: you get to burn off calories, build up muscles and see beautiful places and random creatures. So, it sounds as if I like the outdoors.

Here’s the other deal. I like being out in the sun so that I can get Vitamin D. However, too much sun gives me a headache. I love looking at flowers, but I have a ton of allergies and end up having sneezing attacks on certain hikes. I love seeing random creatures and critters, but I hate flies, mosquitoes and bees. I always get bit. I can be with a group of five other people, and I always (always) end up being the one that has bug bites up and down my legs and arms.  Thus, I have to wear bad-smelling insect repellent sprays. Yuck. Then I get all itchy from the spray itself.  When I go on small boats, which I always want to do, I get motion sickness. Thus, I end up having to take Dramamine and become a zombie. Have I mentioned that I love the actual physical act of hiking? Yet, I have some of the weakest ankles around. I constantly twist and turn them. I have been to physical therapy like a 100 times now.

Here we are. Have you ever liked something that wasn’t good for you? Of course, you have! Have you ever liked something that didn’t like you back.  Oh yes!  Question is what to do about it. In actuality, there is not much to do. I like hiking, but it doesn’t like me.   And, I’m ok with that.  The pet peeve part of this all, is that I am ok with still doing the outdoorsy stuff even though I know I will have a million complaints (of which most will be legitimate).   I suppose I am a masochist of sorts. Oh now. Did I just go ahead an violate my own rule of not analyzing myself?  I think I need to go work out now…