A Change in Perspective - A Note from Katy

By: Katy Agro Myers

Last week I set out for a bike ride and I swear, everything looked and felt different. The leaves were starting to change. The air had a slight chill. It had been a while since I rode through Down's Park-sometimes in the summer it's just too crowded and I hadn't ventured in in about a month.

I have two types of rides. There are the rides where I crank my music and just pedal singing along to the songs at the top of my lungs (also trying to scare away any animals that may try to knock me off my bike). Then there are the rides where I do my best thinking. It's like going to therapy with myself. I talk through the feelings-say them out loud (but in my head) and try them on for size. Then I kind of work through them along the way.

On this particular ride, my intention was that it will be a "crank music and pedal ride" But I felt jumpy. When I say things felt different-there were new logs along the path, I worried about my tires slipping on the leaves, more than once I was startled by a squirrel and even a deer. It quickly transitioned my brain from a fun ride to a thinking ride. Why was I feeling this way? Why was I anxious. This should be my happy place but I'm unsettled. Why? I continued down this line of thought and kept on pedaling.

I started to think about this time last year. My kids were still home five days a week. We were purging and packing to ready our home to go on the market while still looking for a new home. I surely wasn't getting out to go for a ride alone. I realized I was grateful for this time. Grateful for all of the changes that have come in our lives this year. The new opportunities. The new friends and neighbors who have quickly become like family. The new spaces in our new-to-us home that have allowed us to be creative and make our own. I realized that I was jumpy and unsettled because I was not riding with gratitude in my heart. I spent the rest of the ride reminding myself of all of the things I have to be grateful for and soon my anxiety was calmed. The path looked different. It looked like one I was ready to take. My perspective had changed.

As we head into November and onto Thanksgiving and the holiday season, I'm committing to returning to my gratitude journal. To focus on the things I am grateful for and not on the things I'm missing. To help my children do the same. Join me?

xoxo,

Katy