I’ve been bicycling still and working with a health coach to make cycling part of my regular routine. I’m starting an iFit challenge to do a 12 part Japan series. Today’s ride was in Kyoto and I got to see a Shinto shrine, some cemeteries, older buildings that were untouched by WWII and a beautiful lake. The landscape was really beautiful and peaceful.
Cycling, I have found, gives me a deep peace and helps my brain to refocus. I’ve been doing ten minute spurts on my mini bike at work at lunch to help reset my brain for the afternoon.
With everything going on in our modern world, I think it’s important to be able to “check out” once in awhile, in a healthy way. It’s easy to become discouraged by all the wolves in sheep’s clothing out there; the people who say one thing but do another. There’s a lot of divisions that are popping up and deepening in America and in the rest of the world. These separations seem to happen the most between the have and the have nots; the “know it all’s” and the “know it nots”.
I’m hoping my generation will make things better, once the current, reigning generations (see: old white men) start retiring and loosening their death grip on the steering wheel, as Obama spoke to recently. Millennials aren’t perfect (what generation is), but I feel we’re more welcoming, understanding and open to differences and innovation than past generations. We talk about things that tend to make older generations uncomfortable, like mental health, diversity in human experience and gun control. I know there are exceptions, but this is what I’ve seen so far.
I look forward to seeing what we can do. I hope we don’t get trapped or sidelined by tribalism or petty power struggles. Or beguiled by money and prestige.
We can do this; we’re going to have to.
A.R. Clayton 