September-October 2017
I've been biking a lot recently.
It's cool because I like biking and I just bought a new one that's much lighter and smoother.
But in all honesty, I don't like biking that much.
In my first year at my job, my office was 2 miles away. On ambitious days, I'd speed walk and arrive in 30 minutes.
In my second year, it moved sightly further away-- now 3 miles from me. I rode my bike and it was a very pleasant 20 minutes each way.
This August it moved again, but now it's a little over 6 miles out. Still okay, but at 35 minutes, it's no longer quite the easy jaunt it used to be. It takes a little more planning. And on days when I go to the gym or anywhere after work really, I clock 20 miles of cycling. With traffic and stop lights and the run-down-pothole-filled streets of Oakland and my general slow speed in life, it ends up being over 2 hours of the day.
Since the office moved, I've gotten 4 flat tires in 4 months (thanks Oakland!) and biked an average of 70-80 miles a week, which comes to about 8-9 hours a week that I spend doing something I just kinda enjoy. This is more time than I spend climbing in the gym, so it's a little bit of a problem in terms of prioritizing my time on the things I love.
The first month adapting my muscles to that much cycling was rough. The adaptation in getting my mind to accept the hours spent in the saddle was rougher still.
August was the first time I'd ever said the words "I'm kinda over cycling." It felt weird coming out of my mouth but it was pretty true.
But I figure there's something to learn in all of this.
Eventually I got stronger. I learned to turn off the thoughts and just
go
through the dark and the rain and the Oakland traffic and the Oakland potholes
past birds nestled on shores
across bridges into the sky
down streets unlit
past quiet cafes and tiny bodegas
along sunrises and sunsets over the water, I could
see it all
A major theme this year for me has been understanding and taking action to do good.
Some goals are related to work-- I want to be supportive to my coworkers and contribute to their success and growth.
Others are social-- smile at people, compliment them and listen to them honestly and openly.
Many have been around actions-- I decided this year to commit to donating 5% of my salary to non-profits. I also committed to donating platelets once a month to support people in need of them, such as cancer patients whose immune systems have been compromised due to the medicines/chemo/treatment that they receive.
I also am exploring the question of normalizing 'doing good' which is a much bigger task for me.
Rather than focusing on single, full-day volunteer events or donations that occur once or twice in the year, what if we could do good on a regular basis? What if it weren't a cause for celebration, but just another part of life? I understand that many of these things are inconvenient, but what if I could reduce that inconvenience for people? As a result of this, I've been posting on Facebook occasionally about ways to donate/volunteer in the hopes that I can help increase participation in doing good.
I actually hate posting about these things, asking people to donate. It's embarrassing.
Then I wonder-- why am I embarrassed? Why do I feel ashamed of trying to do something I believe to be right?
I wonder, how many times in my life has embarrassment prevented me from taking action? How many times have I pretended to not see someone and brushed past them-- because I felt uncomfortable?
There was a homeless woman in a wheelchair who dropped something on the ground-- she couldn't pick it up from her chair. I walked by and had to double back to retrieve it for her.
Why did I hesitate?
I didn't take very many photos during these two months, so there's not a lot of content to discuss.
Sorry team.
I spent a few weekends in Yosemite though which was great! I didn't take any pictures, but here's a picture of a cat bouldering in Indian Rock.
I was pretty satisfied with my days in Yosemite! Finally got to put down Serenity + Sons which was absolutely worth the horrendous foot cramps of pitch 1 because pitch 3 and on are amazing. Also got to clean up East Buttress of Middle Cathedral (I love chimneys!!!) and got up Mr. Natural which had been on the list for a long time though definitely no send yet. Mr. Natural is wild and nobody told me about the final slab move at the top, what the fuck.
Yosemite is so different from Squamish which makes me feel comfortable and poweful-- Yosemite fills me with horrible anxiety and intimidation. I love it and I'm terrified.
It was a little less intimidating this time.
It's not quite as comfortable as udon and giant fish cakes, but it's getting there.
Little by little, I get to do a bit more.
The days are good.