It was a gorgeous day for a run yesterday. 13 degrees, sunny, clear skies. I pulled on my shoes and went out, excited for the session.

And then it started to hail. So suddenly, as well – I began crossing the street with sun and by the time I reached the other side there were already pellets hitting my skin. I kept running, thinking it would subside.

Yet it only worsened. A heavy rain began to fall and the hail became larger. One piece of hail hit me on the head as I was running and I thought I might pass out. It was as big as my thumb.

At a certain point it became impossible to run. I couldn’t see through my glasses from the rain, my skin was torn from the hail, and my feet were frozen stiff. I decided to hide under a tree for shelter.

But not moving was a terrible decision. Within seconds, my hands and feet were frozen and my body began violently shivering. I reached for my phone and took a photo, and found I couldn’t put the phone back into my pocket. My hands would not stop shaking and become unresponsive.

“Don’t stop moving!” somebody yelled at me through the chaos. It was an elderly woman with a trenchcoat. “You’ll get cold!”

I looked at her in disbelief? Move in this icy battleground? Be bombarded by more hail and rain and puddles? I think not.

Yet I also knew she was right. My body was shutting down from standing still in the cold. I had to move.

The moment I did, things improved. My legs were stiff like thick icy poles and completely numb, but I slowly warmed up. My glasses were still soaked, but I moved forward, trusting the ground. I continued on my run for another few hundred metres before going home. It was too unsafe to keep running. The run back was far warmer than hiding under shelter.

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When we find ourselves amidst chaos, there is a decision we must make: to keep moving, or stand still. In many cases, standing still is a wise decision. You can make analyse the situation more calmly and make better choices.

But in some cases, standing still means death. The war will not wait for your meditations. You must act, no matter how. It is a matter of survival.

I think life is like that, in a way. It feels good to stay stagnant and simply be. You might even be called smart, philosophical.

But eventually, you will reach that time in your life where you will have to look back and examine what it is you have done for the world and the person you have become. What does the life of action look like compared to the life of inaction?

Like a better story, I suspect.