A few days ago I did a beautiful ride along the Illinois side of the river north of St Louis.
As I traveled south, lots of cyclists traveled north as part of a one-day century ride. I caught myself wondering who had the easier ride.
I rode slightly downhill with the river, but into a fairly strong breeze. They had the opposite conditions. So I wondered whether I’d rather ride downhill into the wind or uphill with it. Which was easier?
As I realized what I was thinking, I thought about how silly the question seemed—on several levels.
First, it didn’t matter. Unless I planned to turn around, I had my path and they had theirs. Wondering who had the easier task was absolutely pointless.
Second, easier isn’t the point. If I wanted easy I could have stayed home and played video games. The point is to travel well and enjoy the path I’m traveling.
Finally, by focusing on someone else’s task I looked to my left. Meanwhile, a beautiful stretch of shining water passed unnoticed on my right.
Comparing—what a wasteful activity. Its only function is taking attention from what’s before me. It’s really an excuse. As long as I’m concerned with someone else who might have more or less, I don’t have to dig into my own work.
What matters isn’t the other guy’s path. What matters is moving forward toward my own goals.
Anything that distracts me from pursuing my dream needs to be discarded.
* * * * *
I’m learning how hard local reporters work to tell good stories. These two guys in Carbondale spent a lot of time to with us and created a very nice video that aired on local TV.
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