Hurricane force winds were reported in central Ohio this morning. The local paper may have missed the story, but they obviously weren’t on the bike trail with me as I battled a vicious headwind on my ride home. The Weather Channel app on my phone said the winds were from the NNE at 6 mph… I don’t know where they took their stupid reading. It was obviously much higher on the east side of town.
Wikipedia says a headwind reduces an object’s speed and increase the time required to reach its destination. Don’t I know it! The headwind slowed me down when I was already tired. I debated whether to call my mother or my husband to pick me up. Mom would be sympathetic but she didn’t have a bike rack. I’d never hear the end of it from David (he rides the trail in half the time it takes me).
Are you battling a headwind? Some days, even if you’re on the right path and doing the right thing, life feels like swimming upstream. What’s slowing you down? Chances are, you can’t change it any more than I could change the wind. Are you going to push against it or give up? Ironically, a headwind is favorable in takeoffs and landings. Sometimes an opposing force is just what we need to force us to change direction.
Who do you call when the winds blows? There’s a time for sympathy, and there’s a time for unyielding “you can do it” motivation from people who have been there, done that and kicked butt along the way. Choose your confidants carefully, and weigh your words when someone comes in the middle of their storm.
Despite splashing through a fresh puddle of dog pee on the trail, I made it home. Exhausted, but stronger. And ready to do it again tomorrow.
