The Meeting
Sometimes, it’s so simple.
I was gone. And over it.
At a rest stop, sitting on the grass 200km into a 235km cycling event, I’d had enough. Of course, no one feels fantastic at that point, but this time something was way off.
There was an older bloke, maybe 65, sitting a couple of metres away from me. Then another guy sat down. He looked to be in his twenties. We were now positioned in a little triad. The younger bloke also looked very new to taking on cycling challenges.
A few moments of silence and stillness, the surrounds were superb. Young bloke spoke.
“Man! This ……. is really….…..” He searched for the word. “…..hard.”
The older guy and I instantly laughed together. Not in ridicule, but because we knew what he meant. And we knew, that he now REALLY knew.
“Well that” I said, “is the TRUTH.” Old bloke was smiling.
Young bloke, then mentioned that he might stop and finish, and this was quickly and caringly rejected by old bloke. “No, you’re not stopping. You’re gonna keep going. You can do it.” That beautiful, strong, direct, no bullshit, but not aggressive, communication that comes from older folk.
No protest from young bloke.
Minutes went by, and old bloke got up to ride on. “Ah well, nothing else to do than just put one foot in front of the other”.
He looked at me, as I was working on what he’d said. He was unimpressed. “What, no truth in that, mate?!” I was in the beautiful space of fatigue mixed with calmness, and took longer to respond than usual. It felt nice.
“Not at all” I assured him. “I’m just trying to work out whether I can accept, that truth”.
He laughed strong and short. And got on his bike.
Clichés Are Legit
We’ve all heard words like that a million times. But in moments like that? Real.
At that point of the day’s ride, there wasn’t going to be any special tactics, no magic bullets. Yeah, you keep eating and drinking, you do what you can to keep spirits up, stay focused on the next landmark etc, but in the end, with this type of embodied challenge, in this type of fatigue, THERE WAS NOTHING MORE.
We either pushed the pedals, one stroke at time……… or didn’t.
The Gift Of Clear Choice
So what was it going to be for me?
The first reaction I had was the re-stating to myself that I didn’t care about the achievement of it. Or any of the other external rewards. And instantly thereafter, the questions came.
“Who are you?” “What type of person do you want to be?” “What does that look like now?” “It’s in your control right here.”
I’d rounded the turning point.
Rather than burdened by old bloke’s inescapable truth, I felt energised by it.
The Power of Presence
Sometimes we can get caught trying to optimise and leverage, when really, we just need to get in deep with actually doing it.
To accept the realities of it all. To accept the “work”. To accept what comes.
At those critical points, sometimes we can forget that it’s in the acceptance, and the following committed action, where the magic lies. The resistance, is the way, to the very stuff that we subscribed to in the first place.
We just gotta give ourselves a chance to experience it and be surprised at what can happen. To dive deep into it. Immerse ourselves. Thrust into our fears.
And then, we’re reminded that the resistance to “it”, is so much worse that “it”.
When we do this, true magic can happen.
And unbeknownst to me, I was about to experience mine.
Continued in the 3rd and final part