Radio City Music Hall on the way to Central Park

Once in a blue moon, I wake up in the middle of the night with an incomplete journal entry fresh on my mind, which if I don't finish crystallizing right at that moment, I will be tossing and turning all night. This usually happens when I neglect to recap my day in writing before bedtime, as I've become accustomed to unloading my thoughts into my journal before retiring each evening.

So instead of resisting this need to crystalize this unfinished thought and potentially ruin a good night's sleep, I decided to embrace this feeling and prepared to start writing!

In the ensuing seconds, I gently pulled back the covers, grabbed my phone from the nightstand, glanced at the clock (1:17 am), followed by opening my journal app, and then began typing.

Friends, are you ready for the latest installment of Mr. Sledge roaming around NYC? Okay, here we go!

This story begins with me riding on a city bus in Manhattan, only two blocks away from my desired bus stop location.

Now visualize me getting off the bus at 6th Ave and 56th St on the way to Central Park to link up with my jogging buddies. Even though the meetup spot was still a couple of blocks away, I purposely got off the bus at this particular stop to use the short walk over to warm up for a planned 5k run uptown to 125th St in Harlem.

After exiting the bus, I vividly recall hearing the buzzing sound of the bus engine while watching it drive by a giant tube that was pushing out a tremendous amount of steam, just as I was walking by the 57th St F-train station entrance.

Shortly after that, I arrived on the corner of 58th St and suddenly felt inspired to turn around and look straight down 6th Ave—go figure! In so doing, my eyes gravitated directly to the Radio City Music Hall flashing sign approximately 11 blocks away. Surprisingly, I immediately began to think about the last time I attended the Rockettes Christmas Spectacular, bringing a big smile to my face.

Since no vehicles were approaching the intersection during this serene moment, I quickly took a few pics to remember this beautiful scenery.

Upon arriving at the Columbus Circle and Park Ave entrance of Central Park, the first thing I noticed was the sun shining bright, with a Monument and a Nathan's Hot Dog stand blending uniquely together in the background.

After walking by a guy riding a yellow bike, I could see my friends huddled up, stretching and getting ready for our run. Once we exchanged pleasantries along with a bunch of high fives, it was time to go jogging. So we then eased over to the designated starting point, which was back near the hot dog stand (slide 14), and all took off running—the end.

I took another look at the clock in my final move as I was putting my phone back on the nightstand (if you are curious, the time was now 1:26 am), and before my head hit the pillow, I was sound asleep.

Enjoy your evening. 😊

#nyc #mindfulness #motivation #sleep