I’m a year older tomorrow. I don’t feel older. That’s good. I do feel wiser. Since my last birthday which involved a masked party in my mom’s garage (which was great), the pandemic has been the top story. This whole year has been about surviving the pandemic and getting the vaccine and pivoting in ways that let me know I should practice yoga. At work, remote and in person have given way to roomers and Zoomers. Every day has been an adjustment to an ever changing landscape of challenges. Like the spokes on a wheel help the wheel hold its shape. Each day of my 58th year has been a spoke helping to move me forward and get me through.

Spokes are pretty amazing when you consider what they do for a bike wheel. They take all the stress we put into our bikes. As I understand it, the spoke pulls the rim toward the hub. Spokes have to put up with all sorts of stress. Consider those potholes you hit because you’re watching traffic. Consider the time you lob yourself over a curb to avoid a squirrel or what about just trying to go a little faster and on the road only to end up on gravel or worse. The tension makes them stronger.

That’s all well and good for a wheel but what about life? It has been a very tense year. School is extremely stressful and even if you are doing your very best you feel like an utter failure everyday. Everyone does and you can’t even complain without hearing someone best your story with one of their own. “Yeah, you’re right,” I want to say, “You are working harder.” We have these signs on campus that extol positive messages. I’m all for that and yet I overthink them. One is “Comparison is the thief of joy.” Okay, so what should I do instead? I feel both driven and lethargic. I tell myself to focus on the students and think about them first and foremost and in the same moment I feel ignored by coworkers. An island. Alone. We are isolated and every meeting and most interactions fall short of community and connection. 

A maladjusted spoke makes the wheel out of true and wobbly. I love the way that sounds: out of true. Whoa! Conversely if it is balanced than it is trued. It is aligned and working in the community of spokes. Truing in bikes is making those tiny adjustments and getting the spokes aligned so they can handle the stress and tension of the ride ahead. It takes work to true a wheel. Typically there are 24-36 spokes on traditional bikes. Truing a wheel can mean hours to weeks of time to get it into balance. We are making similar adjustments.

That’s just it. We all have to make tiny adjustments to be true and aligned and balanced to withstand the stresses of whatever is around the corner.

William Shakespeare said it best, “To thine own self be true.” He probably was not talking about bikes but he and I share the 23rd as our birthday and I think staying true and honest to yourself is as much about balance and alignment as a spoke is to a trued wheel. 

Here’s to fair weather and trued spokes and another day to ride. Stay safe!

Bike Goddess

Thanks for reading. How do you find alignment and balance in times of stress and worry?

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