What really stuck with me was the visual imagination of the monkey inside of me who wants to have fun, and therefore always seeks the easiest way of gratification.
Before you have made progress on a task, he will want to just chill and hang out and do nothing. But once you fought yourself through the most part of something, the monkey becomes your friend because it also has fun when stuff gets done.
I thought of that during my biking days a lot.
Every morning, I was seriously overwhelmed by the 100 kilometers I planned to ride on my bike. How am I ever going to do that? I looked at the notes I took and all these villages and cities I was supposed to go through and it freaked me out. There were so many.
Then you get on your bike and you bike for a few minutes and it says on the tachometer "0.8 km". And you know.. there are more than 99 km to go. Plus kilometers if you get lost.
As I did not have a choice at all, meaning: If I wanted to get home, and also, if I wanted to get towards the place I picked to sleep (if I had one), the only thing that will help me in this very moment is: Keep pedalling. Just keep moving your feet.
So I kept moving. And then, at some point, the tachometer said: "11.2 km". And then, it said: "24.5". I still felt like the whole day was in front of me. But by then, I also already knew - having done nearly 25 km means: only three times 25 more to go. I can do this.
On the hard days, on the days I felt sick and tired, I couldn't look at the tachometer. I stared ahead on the street and just moved my legs - and one day, that's when I had to think of the article mentionned above because I realized: You make progress, if you do the task you are supposed to do - even if you do it extremely slow and unmotivated. You will get there.
I got home.
And the monkey and I flew across the French countryside.
It's one of the most important lessons I learned on my trip.
You get to this "tipping point" only by being persistent and just moving your feet.
Keep going. Just do what you are supposed to do (and don't do anything else. Don't start walking or swimming or dancing when you are on a bike!). You WILL make progress. You will get there.
It's the key to following through with plans, even with an adventure like this. This whole thing started out as a note in my journal. Then googling how many kilometer it would be and how much time I would have. Just to reassure myself that this is a stupid idea and that it's not possible. It didn't hurt to check these things, but they were already progress on the way to get there.
At some point, I started asking people about bikes. And bike trips.
And suddenly, I was buying a bike. And there I went.
This is how it starts. So just start moving your feet slowly. And once you are in it, keep moving.
Because you will get home.
this is quite practical for a final post. but if it gets you moving (if you want to get moving), it's all that needs to be said on here at the end of my bike trip :)
thank you so much for listening.
What a great post! And SO worthy as a last post. Thank you - for doing it and showing it can be done. For thinking about it and processing it and verbalizing it and writing it. It kicks me in the butt, which is good. Because I know it's so true for whatever task that's been in front of me: studying (a field I wasn't good in), rocking a baby to sleep, changing your wardrobe, becoming professional... Thank you, Uta, and keep rolling!
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