Tuesday, April 08, 2008

Bicycle: A New Reality Real Life Story

So many people are resonating right now to the leap of faith it takes, as we jump from our old realities into the new. I'd like to share this short story written by a client, that as she says, captures how she feels after the transition. If you have a story of your own to share, please email me at: dana@danamrkich.com and we can post it here to help inspire others to make their own shift.

Bicycle by Kiara

Both rain and the wind are belting me from different directions. I have just reached the point at which the last thread of my clothing has become soaked. I feel like a giant sponge that has been suspended in mid air and placed upon this devilish metal contraption that taunts gravity by its forward momentum. However, this momentum has become somewhat impeded by the raw forces of nature that are playing with it as capriciously as a small child. Sometimes they let it fly free into the ether, and at other times they force it to a glacial pace at which even the slowest of snails would overtake me.

Is it sweat, is it rain or could it even be tears that are flowing down my face? It could be a conglomerate of all three, yet it doesn’t really matter because the night is dark and there are no stars to illuminate my trials. I shall not allow this to beat me and my ideals. I envisioned that this trip would bring with it a feeling of emancipation, and freedom from the constraints of stagnation that were eating away at me in my prior safety shell. I needed to crawl out of the place of security, familiarity and consistency, say adieu to the mundane and prosaic and step off the cliff with the knowledge that the parachute will inevitably open.

Today as I am being put through my first major initiation, I can see why people tend to be reluctant in taking the leap. I feel as if this is my first test, and I wish to fly instead of falling and thus I shall persist. As a final test of strength, the rear tyre has gone flat. I pull over and get out a map from my soggy backpack. I still attempt to maintain an air of indifference and a matter of fact stance as I leaf through the tattered pages.

Finally I realise that I am even further from my end goal than when I started, and a feeling of helplessness overcomes me. My spirit has just deflated to imitate my rear tyre. I wish nothing more than to hurl the rust bucket into the nearest canal, yet my early idealistic visions flash before my eyes like a silent black and white movie. This is my future, this is the new reality that I was seeking, and this was the risk that I was willing to take in order to move beyond the status quo which left me numb and uninspired.

So what if I am lost in a large city, at night, with rain, wind and a flat tyre? In reality I am still much better off than safely at home wondering why life is passing me by. I suddenly feel alive and realise that this constitutes living in the moment. I am not contemplating what I shall do in the future or reminiscing about the past, I exist in the present moment. I can smell the mud below my feet, I can feel the icy wind and rain whipping my face and I can see smudged lights that together comprise this city. It matters not that I am lost. What matters is that I stepped outside of the self perpetuating cycle which epitomised security, stability and certainty. I am free and thus I shall pedal on.

(c) 2008

Kiara is a client of Dana's who has made the leap from her old reality in one city to a new reality in another city on the other side of the world.

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