Alright–I’m going to mix things up a bit. In a new twist on the Friday the 13th norm, I’m actually going to STOP freaking out. I’ve spent most of this week kvetching and I’m ready to move on now (I’m sure this is wonderful news to my hubby).
I went out for a nice walk with Viv today and was sort of processing a SWOT analysis in my head. Yes, my brain does strange things when under stress. Since it would clearly be a bit too much geekery to actually write out a SWOT, I’ll just list some of my thoughts:
- I’ll remember that I like riding my bike! Jesse and I used to get babysitting just so we could go for a long ride and now that’s part of my daily routine. Life is good!
- I’m not willing to miss events important to family and friends, but I will be more thoughtful about the kinds of things I commit to going forward. Considering how often we all feel overloaded, this type of action is probably long overdue.
- I will stop being so lazy and start learning more about the geography of my area. I need to learn more about the bus routes, in particular. As a nearly lifelong resident, this is also long overdue!
- I’ll look into working from home one day a week to take a break from riding (though I will still ride Sofie to school these days).
- I will get more creative. For example, maybe I could experiment with riding Sofie to school, riding home, and then taking the bus to work. It wouldn’t take much longer and then I could bring my regular bike on the bus. I’ll try to think of other ideas to add some variety to my routine.
- I’ll work on a way to tune out the harassment from motorists without developing a negative reality of my own.
- I’ll try to find a way to become more comfortable riding alone at night.
- Finally, and by far the most important, I will really work on taking it one day at a time. I’ve been getting stressed about riding in summer and it’s November! I need to work on being in the present moment.
I’m learning so much about myself, my environment, and my community. I believe that my riding today can impact whether or not the roads are safe enough for my daughters to ride tomorrow (not to mention that I’m modeling good, active behavior). I thought I had bitten off more than I could chew, but maybe this was exactly what I needed…
Sounds like a plan. Your “kvetching” has actually got me thinking about our situation. We still have two cars (mine rarely driven, and would be retired, but it’s a nostalgic art car). My wife likes to ride a bike, but also likes her car and its conveniences.
So we’re not carfree, and don’t have a specific goal in mind. On the one hand, I’d like a challenge such as yours … on the other, riding the bike remains a treat rather than a task, and I end up choosing it almost every day. I think that once you figure out routes, and multimodal strategies, and leave yourself the option of not riding, you’ll end up riding more.
And if that doesn’t work, go electric assist! It’s not at all a copout – for cargo & transportational cycling, it extends your range and your routes.
Oooh – art car?? That *would* be hard to part with!
As you can clearly see, I’m a fatalist. I always have been. I’m working at being more optimistic, but my family is German so it doesn’t come naturally. ;p So yeah, I definitely get overwhelmed easily. I think you are right that coming up with more strategies will make it easier. I think I would still choose biking, but just knowing I have an “out” would make me feel better.
I don’t know what this challenge will bring. I am trying to have faith that it will be a good thing because it will push me out of my comfort zone and force me to be more creative about how I get places. It’s already been quite a learning process.
I would *love* to get e-assist, but it’s pretty much out of the budget for now. I guess the Stokemonkey doesn’t fit the Radish. I’m not too familiar with the other options, but I need to start looking into it. Believe me, I think of it often!
You don’t need no e-assist! I’ve seen you sprint with that X
I like the SWOT Analysis. The first one is very important. None of us would do this if we didn’t love it and it didn’t increase our quality of life. You’re unlikely to see bunnies from your car.
LOL Keri! You should have seen me this morning crossing 50 on Forsyth. I tried out the new shifting strategies from Saturday’s class and for a minute, I thought I DID have e-assist! Talk about turbo-boost!
I should have added one more thing to the list: I should put a post-it note on my bathroom mirror that says, “Bunnies.” ;p