"I get knocked down, but I get up again"

I don’t know if I’ve already told you this, but I’m rubbish lately on a bike. I used to be awesome at it, then about 20 years passed and I wasn’t so great at it. I remember spending a day cycling around Mandurah with my beloved friend “G” and mostly face-planting and stacking it – because I struggled to balance on his Mom’s bike.

When we checked out our bikes at Rottnest, I was a little worried.

Am I going to fall off again?

I spent the first 10 minutes really struggling.

What I was doing – was looking down at my handlebars, and trying to “straighten” my bike. I wanted them to be exactly straight/even (the handlebars) and I wanted the handlebars to line up perfectly with the scenery around me. I don’t know why.

The idea of perfection became very sticky in my mind and I couldn’t let it go.

Because I couldn’t let it go, my bike was swerving all over the place and was basically controlling me and not the other way around.

Something G said to me last time we were together on bikes suddenly resounded in my head.

“Look at where you want to be – not at where you are now”

So I lifted my head (it was a struggle, let me tell you!) and shifted my gaze from the handlebars.

I focused on the road ahead and let go of trying to control what was directly in front.

And I was free!!!

I was riding around confidently and you know what? I LOVED it!

I loved the wind in my hair and passing across my face. I loved the feeling of peddling and I loved most of all that I could take in the beautiful Rotto scenery because now I was looking UP and AROUND rather than down.

Here are some of the views I would have missed if I didn’t look up:

I feel like there’s a life lesson here, you know 🙂

I need to look up and around instead of down.

I need to stop trying to control the ‘here and now’ and focus on where I want to go.

I feel if I lift my head, things will look better and I’ll certainly feel better.

The view of my life will be better once I lift my head up xx