Life is Like a Bicycle.
Today, as I sit on my balcony, enjoying a glass of non-alcoholic wine (15 more days until I can have a real glass again, but who’s counting) I’m reminded of this beautiful quote by Albert Einstein:
“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.”
My goodness!
It’s so simple.
So eloquent.
So absolutely relevant to the conversations I have with my clients.
That man really was a genius.
The other genius who said something similar was Dory in Finding Nemo, I think her exact words were “just keep swimming, just keep swimming”. Same same but different.
The piece of information I give my clients is that to have motivation, you need to first move. If you think about where ‘motivate’ actually comes from its ‘motion’ and ‘activate’ put together. You need to move and take action to feel motivation. It’s very rare that you’ll feel motivated when you’re lying on the couch watching Netflix.
When I first started on my deep self-development journey (I specify ‘deep’ because I believe every day is a self-development journey) my coach at the time said “Jade, you just need to start!”.
I was paralysed with fear of failure, my perfectionist tendencies were playing the strong game, and I genuinely simply had no idea how I was going to achieve what I wanted. Standing still was making me feel very unbalanced, I was falling all over the place. When I finally started making moves, beginning slowly and taking steps in the forward direction, the path in front of me began to open and I noticed things that weren’t originally visible for me when I was staying still.
‘The act of moving keeps you balanced’ - it is an awesome analogy for life.
While we’re on the topic of bike analogies, I think there’s a few others we can run with.
Let’s start with riding up hills.
The endurance. You have three options when it comes to riding up hill.
You keep riding.
You get off and walk.
You turn around and go back down.
Oh, the metaphor in this. What a joy!
Let’s review:
It’s a small amount of pain to get to the top of the hill, and when you’re there you get all the rewards of going down the other side. That new height offers momentum and speed to take you further on the journey.
If the hill is too steep, then take it slowly. Get off and walk yourself up there, you’ll still enjoy all of the benefits when you get to the top.
The third option is going back to where you started. It’s important to note here, that going back to where you started still includes all the lessons and knowledge you accumulated from the height you achieved, but it does take you right back to the beginning. Sometimes you need to review the hills you’re going up and assess ‘is it faster to go back and select a different path, or to get off and walk my way up?’.
The interesting thing about a bike is that the passenger is also the engine.
You only get out as much as you put in (these bike analogies – they’re the gift that keeps on giving!).
You are the creator of your universe; you are the only person who can change your perspective on life.
If you want to be in a different position than you currently are, you need to start peddling. You are the engine for your life.
To those who ride a bike, it is an incredibly beneficial machine, AND it causes absolutely no harm to the planet or anyone else.
This is less a metaphor for life in general, and more a metaphor for how I choose to live my life.
How can you ensure your actions are not hurting those around you?
When you decide on an option, assess if this is ecological for yourself, your loved ones and the environment. If the answer is yes, you’re good to go! Be the bike!
One final metaphor. I promise, I’m nearly done. This is actually a quote from English author H.G. Wells from his novel ‘The Wheels of Chance’ written in 1986.
“To ride a bicycle properly is very like a love affair—chiefly it is a matter of faith. Believe you do it, and the thing is done; doubt, and, for the life of you, you cannot.”
When it comes to our own belief, if we believe we can then we can, if we believe we can’t then we can’t. When you choose to live as though life is always in your favour, you’ll begin to recognise opportunities popping up around you everywhere. See what is available for you, believe that you can.
Oh, how one simple bike can provide so many amazing life lessons. There is an analogy in everything if we read between the lines. I may even go for a bike ride myself right now – see where the wind takes me and what I can discover along the way. For now, I hope you’ve learnt something about yourself from this read and you continue to stay moving.
Thank you to Albert for the kind reminder that movement is the key to keeping our balance.
Sending you love,
Jade xx
