Biking Against The Wind - We Are All Philosophers #1

in #life7 years ago (edited)

wind.jpg

The other day I was on my way on my bike that I bought from a polish couple that, back then, didn't seem to care that they sold me a bike in extremely bad condition. As I didn't have time to check it for defects, and I really needed a bike, I bought it. It annoys me every day. The gears are not functioning properly, and the lock is not working. That being said, it actually has nothing to do with the story. I was on my way to another day with some bouldering, as I turn right in the crosslight just before the bridge I have to cross. It had been quite windy all day, but nothing we are not used to in Denmark. Just as I turn, mother nature blows a massive wind at me. Extremely powerful wind. A wind so powerful it would make some people get off their bike and just walk. I thought about that as well. I tried as much as I was capable of to pedal harder. I wanted to continue at the same speed as before, when the wind was a lot calmer and nice to me. it was quite exhausting. Really exhausting. The wind continued for a long time. Might only have been a few seconds, half a minute at maximum. It felt like a really long time on a bike with gears not working as they should. As I got more and more exhausted, I, at last decided to surrender to the power of mother nature. Not surrender completely, but almost. I lowered my speed to such low speed that it didn't really matter it was windy. The wind had no effect now. Of course, it had the effect that I would get there a little bit later, but that's a minor concern, if any at all. This story might seem extremely boring to you, but I thought of it in a deeper way.

As I lowered my pace, I was feeling a lot more comfortable than before. I immediately thought of life in general. When met with problems in life, we often tend to not accept them, and try to move forward at the same pace as before. Stress would be a great example. If you're stressed out, and try to move forward with the same pace, you would end up feeling more exhausted and stressed. If we, on the other hand, accept that's something is out of our control, lower the pace, and go forward at the pace we can handle, we are much more comfortable and happier with what is going on. It's often the resistance, and the need to continue in the pace we did just before, that creates/makes the situation worse. Sometimes we are forced to slow down. We don't want to slow down, and even know we know it's the best, we don't do it. Sometimes it's okay to crawl when everybody else is walking.


Image Sources: 1