BICYCLEs and Faith
How Cycling helps me learn balance :
Psalms 18:36 - "You broaden the path beneath me, so that my ankles do not turn."
Yes, that's right. My bicycle has been a key asset to learning balance in my life!
Balance is a term that can mean many things. What I mean by balance here is simple. We have a few main needs in our lives, some of these include things as simple as food and shelter, another is, for example, the need to be in relationship with people- friends and family. We need good nutrition, regular exercise, enough sleep, and a place to work. With all of these human needs we also need relaxation, God, and a spiritual element to our lives. The trick, though, is finding a balance of all of these basic human needs. Often time, in my own life, I end up spending much more time focusing on one need and, subsequently, end up neglecting another need. The problem with this is that each need is still a need and when I spend more time with one than with the other my life starts to become unbalanced and I start to feel that unbalance. Unbalance in a personal life can be a very negative thing that can ultimately hurt a person in many different ways. For example, if you neglect your body and choose to, instead, only relax and are not actively exercising often then you open yourself up to heart disease, a higher risk of cancer, high blood pressure, higher chance of heart attack, and many other health problems that come with being over-weight. If you devote all your time to your need to work and make money and neglect relaxation and the relationships you have with friends and family you can hurt the important relationships in your life and even become exhausted to the point of mental breakdown.
Did you know that any form of extreme unbalance in a person's life, when it comes to these basic needs, can cause permanent damage to that person? An unbalance in any of the basic categories of need can damage a person's body, mind, soul, relationships, quality of life, etc.
This is a little candle my boyfriend and I made for my good friend HAWK who is a bicycle security guard... I love stuff like this.
So it seems like, to me, of all of these needs, I tend to become most obsessed with one of them: the need to make money in order to sustain myself financially. Very often I let this need overtake much of my life. It quickly and effectively snuffs out the time that I dedicate to other needs like exercise, building relationships, and even adequate rest. The funny thing is that I just can't seem to concur this over-dedication to working and I've been trying to figure out why. One of the things that I've discovered is that I am absolutely not alone in this particular type of unbalance. In-fact it seems like an unbalance when it comes to putting work over all other needs has become part of the typical progressive American lifestyle. This is not a unique trait to just the Americas, it's here and there all over the world. I can't say that I'm surprised though. Our culture puts such an emphasis on what job you have, how much money you make, where you live, what you own, what you drive, and so on. People have disputed this with me. I've had people say "oh i don't care about what someone does or where they live" when we hit the topic of needs in our conversation. Take these people to a party, though, and introduce them to someone new. 10 bucks says that they, at at least once point in the conversation, ask their new friend "what do you do?" or "that's cool what kind of car is it?". They don't ask that to judge... it's just our custom. It's what we deem important in life. Usually "What do you do?" is the FIRST question in a new conversation when we are getting to know someone. I'm guilty of the same thing.
How does one remedy an unbalance when it comes to work? I can't answer that question for somebody else because every person's needs and the action and lack-there-of that fit our lives are different. People have balance and unbalance all over the place and it really doesn't make sense that there would be one formula that works for everyone, one course of action to balance everyone out. After looking at my own life and trying to understand the reasons why I was always rushing around and never seemed to have "time" to do anything but work I started to discover the areas in my life that I had surrendered control and choice to the working world. For example I would start allowing my boss to call me anytime of day or night to demand my time. When I was called I would always respond and focus on working. As this went on and got worse and worse my work became the center of my life instead of just part of the balance. I would drive my car all over the place rushing to do all of the other things that are parts of my life during the small time that I wasn't working. Often times I'd get to the point where I felt as though I was not in control of anything in my life and that I didn't have enough time to do anything that i wanted. I felt like I wasn't accomplishing ANYTHING yet for some reason I wasn't doing anything but working. It was a spiral..
And then I got a bicycle.
I decided to start riding to work, my appointments, and everywhere that I could. Sometime it was because I couldn't afford gas, sometimes it was because I really needed the exercise, sometimes it was because I thought I owed it to the environment to give my car a rest. As I began to make cycling one of my main modes of transportation I started slowing down. I found a gateway to learning balance. I had no idea how to start and, being forced to slow down a little because I was cycling instead of driving, provided the first step to understanding what balance in my life I needed. When my boss would call and say I need you at work I went from saying "ok right away" and rushing in my car over to the office to saying "ok I'll be there in 30 minutes", packing and planning to ride, and then jumping on my bicycle and having an enjoyable journey to the office.
It taught me to slow down, plan ahead, and enjoy the ride.
I started taking less things with me and started running chores one at a time instead of trying to do everything gat once. I started buying less in order to fit things in my backpack. I started feeling less tired and more in shape. I started eating better and drinking more water because I had to make sure I had enough energy to ride the 25 minutes to work and 25 minutes back every day. I started thinking about ways to make time to SLOW DOWN instead of make time to speed up like I'd been accustomed t for so many years. Often I ride with friends to work or on chores and it gives me a chance to spend time with them and catch up. Best of all, riding bicycles is FUN! Every time I ride to work it reminds me of when I rode to school every day in middle school having a blast all the way. You start noticing things that you don't notice in a car like the smell of the bagel shop down the street, the sunflowers that grow in the street gutter, the decorations in people's lawns and the smiling faces of your neighbors. Now that my boss is accustomed to me riding my bicycle to work he understands that it takes time and doesn't expect me to act on the drop of a pin every day.
Even better, so many of my friends have begun to pick up on my excitement about slowing down in life and achieving balance through starting to ride my bicycle everywhere that they are also trying it out. To their pleasure bicycle riding has been helping them as well! (not to mention saving them a lot of gas money!)
Riding bicycles is a fun pastime and a friendly way of transportation as well as a great way to slow life down and achieve a little balance. It's funny what types of things can help us in life, even spiritually. God made the world so that we can enjoy it.. how interesting that enjoying a bicycle ride has helped me so much to achieve balance for all of the other needs in my life. Funny how these things work, right? I thought that working all the time and rushing around and making money was what would make me happy when in-fact the opposite was true. Cycling more, working less, and experiencing a little more time off, friends, neighbors, exercise, nutrition, energy, and sunshine was the key ;)
Keep riding!
-Chelsea
(For more information about cycling in Utah check these web-pages out: http://www.slcbikecollective.org and http://www.slccriticalmass.org/)
Psalms 18:36 - "You broaden the path beneath me, so that my ankles do not turn."
Yes, that's right. My bicycle has been a key asset to learning balance in my life!
Balance is a term that can mean many things. What I mean by balance here is simple. We have a few main needs in our lives, some of these include things as simple as food and shelter, another is, for example, the need to be in relationship with people- friends and family. We need good nutrition, regular exercise, enough sleep, and a place to work. With all of these human needs we also need relaxation, God, and a spiritual element to our lives. The trick, though, is finding a balance of all of these basic human needs. Often time, in my own life, I end up spending much more time focusing on one need and, subsequently, end up neglecting another need. The problem with this is that each need is still a need and when I spend more time with one than with the other my life starts to become unbalanced and I start to feel that unbalance. Unbalance in a personal life can be a very negative thing that can ultimately hurt a person in many different ways. For example, if you neglect your body and choose to, instead, only relax and are not actively exercising often then you open yourself up to heart disease, a higher risk of cancer, high blood pressure, higher chance of heart attack, and many other health problems that come with being over-weight. If you devote all your time to your need to work and make money and neglect relaxation and the relationships you have with friends and family you can hurt the important relationships in your life and even become exhausted to the point of mental breakdown.
Did you know that any form of extreme unbalance in a person's life, when it comes to these basic needs, can cause permanent damage to that person? An unbalance in any of the basic categories of need can damage a person's body, mind, soul, relationships, quality of life, etc.
So it seems like, to me, of all of these needs, I tend to become most obsessed with one of them: the need to make money in order to sustain myself financially. Very often I let this need overtake much of my life. It quickly and effectively snuffs out the time that I dedicate to other needs like exercise, building relationships, and even adequate rest. The funny thing is that I just can't seem to concur this over-dedication to working and I've been trying to figure out why. One of the things that I've discovered is that I am absolutely not alone in this particular type of unbalance. In-fact it seems like an unbalance when it comes to putting work over all other needs has become part of the typical progressive American lifestyle. This is not a unique trait to just the Americas, it's here and there all over the world. I can't say that I'm surprised though. Our culture puts such an emphasis on what job you have, how much money you make, where you live, what you own, what you drive, and so on. People have disputed this with me. I've had people say "oh i don't care about what someone does or where they live" when we hit the topic of needs in our conversation. Take these people to a party, though, and introduce them to someone new. 10 bucks says that they, at at least once point in the conversation, ask their new friend "what do you do?" or "that's cool what kind of car is it?". They don't ask that to judge... it's just our custom. It's what we deem important in life. Usually "What do you do?" is the FIRST question in a new conversation when we are getting to know someone. I'm guilty of the same thing.
How does one remedy an unbalance when it comes to work? I can't answer that question for somebody else because every person's needs and the action and lack-there-of that fit our lives are different. People have balance and unbalance all over the place and it really doesn't make sense that there would be one formula that works for everyone, one course of action to balance everyone out. After looking at my own life and trying to understand the reasons why I was always rushing around and never seemed to have "time" to do anything but work I started to discover the areas in my life that I had surrendered control and choice to the working world. For example I would start allowing my boss to call me anytime of day or night to demand my time. When I was called I would always respond and focus on working. As this went on and got worse and worse my work became the center of my life instead of just part of the balance. I would drive my car all over the place rushing to do all of the other things that are parts of my life during the small time that I wasn't working. Often times I'd get to the point where I felt as though I was not in control of anything in my life and that I didn't have enough time to do anything that i wanted. I felt like I wasn't accomplishing ANYTHING yet for some reason I wasn't doing anything but working. It was a spiral..
And then I got a bicycle.I decided to start riding to work, my appointments, and everywhere that I could. Sometime it was because I couldn't afford gas, sometimes it was because I really needed the exercise, sometimes it was because I thought I owed it to the environment to give my car a rest. As I began to make cycling one of my main modes of transportation I started slowing down. I found a gateway to learning balance. I had no idea how to start and, being forced to slow down a little because I was cycling instead of driving, provided the first step to understanding what balance in my life I needed. When my boss would call and say I need you at work I went from saying "ok right away" and rushing in my car over to the office to saying "ok I'll be there in 30 minutes", packing and planning to ride, and then jumping on my bicycle and having an enjoyable journey to the office.
It taught me to slow down, plan ahead, and enjoy the ride.
I started taking less things with me and started running chores one at a time instead of trying to do everything gat once. I started buying less in order to fit things in my backpack. I started feeling less tired and more in shape. I started eating better and drinking more water because I had to make sure I had enough energy to ride the 25 minutes to work and 25 minutes back every day. I started thinking about ways to make time to SLOW DOWN instead of make time to speed up like I'd been accustomed t for so many years. Often I ride with friends to work or on chores and it gives me a chance to spend time with them and catch up. Best of all, riding bicycles is FUN! Every time I ride to work it reminds me of when I rode to school every day in middle school having a blast all the way. You start noticing things that you don't notice in a car like the smell of the bagel shop down the street, the sunflowers that grow in the street gutter, the decorations in people's lawns and the smiling faces of your neighbors. Now that my boss is accustomed to me riding my bicycle to work he understands that it takes time and doesn't expect me to act on the drop of a pin every day.
Even better, so many of my friends have begun to pick up on my excitement about slowing down in life and achieving balance through starting to ride my bicycle everywhere that they are also trying it out. To their pleasure bicycle riding has been helping them as well! (not to mention saving them a lot of gas money!)Riding bicycles is a fun pastime and a friendly way of transportation as well as a great way to slow life down and achieve a little balance. It's funny what types of things can help us in life, even spiritually. God made the world so that we can enjoy it.. how interesting that enjoying a bicycle ride has helped me so much to achieve balance for all of the other needs in my life. Funny how these things work, right? I thought that working all the time and rushing around and making money was what would make me happy when in-fact the opposite was true. Cycling more, working less, and experiencing a little more time off, friends, neighbors, exercise, nutrition, energy, and sunshine was the key ;)
Keep riding!
-Chelsea
(For more information about cycling in Utah check these web-pages out: http://www.slcbikecollective.org and http://www.slccriticalmass.org/)
posted by Chelsea at
2:45 AM
2 Comments
