You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
I opened up a little while ago about the state of my mental health and how I’d fallen into a very dark, deep hole. Work was toxic and it took for me to go off sick for 6 weeks to drum home to the company how bad things had got. It’s still not great, but thanks to some CBT therapy and meds I’m in a far better place.
Riding has helped enormously, especially since that involved a new bike as well. A new cycle club, riding with new people, just bimbling to some out of the way cafe for coffee and cake. My team at work who are all MTBers dragged me out too, I realised how much I missed the sound of knobbly tyres over dirt, so riding has become a regular thing that gets penned in the diary, rather than just loosely vagueness that I should get out.
Anyway, enough rambling, I’ll get to the point.
Last Sunday on the social club ride the question about if you use riding time to uncompress your brain was floated about. I gave a brief outline of my depression and how riding helps, which a fair few of the group admitted that it’s the same for them. The question bounced out about what everyone was thinking about right there and then, some great answers and a mini therapy session.
All I could come up with a the time, my feet were numb from the cold, was does a duck not get cold feet swimming in icy water?
I live near a canal and regularly ride alongside it. I often wonder if the ducks, moorhens, herons, etc get cold feet. I also wonder about the Kingfishers: is it a shock when they dive in to the water on a hot day?
It’s one of the things I love about riding bikes - thinking about everything and nothing. It really is a time to uncompressed your brain. I sometimes start a ride in a bad mood but rarely end one in a bad mood.
This is a great analogy and OP I'm glad things are improving for you. Over the last couple of weeks I've been thinking about writing my own post, but couldn't bring myself to write a lengthy "about me".
Having survived an unintended subtle change in job role, round of redundancies, less pay, realisation my "grand plan" was flawed, and worrying about upcoming flights, I'm in a worlwind of negativity. Yet, my wife's just signed to a fancy new job, everyone's healthy, we have savings etc. From the outside looking in people would say " I don't get it". Last weekend I went out for my birthday and talked to my FIL about how my plans to retire at 60 were flawed / broken and I've likely go 17 more years of work ahead of me, a thought that doesn't bear entertain. He look at me and said -"When you were 34, did you have a plan for the next 17 years and now having lived those, it is the same"? Of course the answer is no, and thinking it through I realised I'd - with my perfectionist nature - planned my whole next 17 years and got depressed when Jan-Mar issues occurred which ruined the plan. I really need to roll back to a relative "living in the moment" as trying to predict the next 17 years and then getting upset when it goes wrong is of course a route to madness.
Yesterday I started CBT again that was for the Flying issues, but the councillor said to me "You know, we should work on your perfectionism and intolerance of uncertainty first not the other way around. Having a more balanced and tolerant approach to life will reduce anxiety and expectations will likely help your fear of flying more than just treating that by itself.
The wash of relief of those two outcomes / analogies has been very impactful, and yours - which I associate with my job actually - is a third that really helps, thanks for posting.
This is sort of what I was writing about in this week’s weekly newsletter (probably still time to catch the Saturday re-send if you sign up now). Heading out and seeing the world around you and wondering about it is a sort of awe, which is apparently really beneficial to mental health. Tune in to the recent Reset episode of Hidden Brain to listen to the inspiration for my newsletter.
Being in awe of ducks’ feet is a healthy place to be, and might actually do you more good than sprinting past the duck and focusing on a heart rate zone or strava segment!
I hope this is ok but the "stupid thoughts that rattle your head" made me think of a song I saw recently, Ren - Hi Ren. I think it's amazing. Has anyone else seen it?
Ignore me if this isn't the thread for it.
The stupid thought that I want answering is...
do fish get cold eyes?
Ren is brilliant and multi talented. I can't understand why he's not hit the big time. Really like the covers he did with The Big Push. I think he does have some odd health beliefs re. Lyme disease etc.
I'm mostly dodging the rage inside about a poorly managed restructure and eejit of a manager we've been lumbered with, that's the background anyway.
In part of making things better for me I have made it on to an industry future leaders course (impressive due to my fairly low level role) but in where this waffle is heading is that the programme has started with focusing on mental health, well-being and empathy and how we are often hard on ourselves when if we saw the same thing in a friend or colleague we would intervene to help and reassure them it's ok to step back and rest and the situation is unreasonable.
Bimbling outdoors certainly helps clear the head. Driving an old tractor used to be great for it too, get lost in random harmless thought trains of your surroundings.
Also been following Ren for a while and surprised it's taken until now for him to be noticed.
Wow, Ren. Some talent.
That's my evenings listening sorted.
I worry about the ducks too. I was watching them waddle and swim up and down the partially frozen canal. I feared that they would hurt themselves on the sharp edges of ice as they transition from swimming in the water, to popping up on to the frozen surface.
There is a duck who lives in Henfold Lakes near Dorking who has a foot missing.
I don't know why the expression lame duck became popular because she copes fine. She doesn't swim in circles although walking on land with a missing foot is more challenging.
Her handicap doesn't seem to disadvantage her though as she gets more food thrown at her. Well certainly from me anyway.
Good to hear some positive progress from a couple on here.
My random thought yesterday was "do solar panels work when viewed with snow? Presumably not. So should you have a long brush to sweep them clear?
I had plans to get off the meds over the next few months, one look at my work schedule suggests that isn't going to happen any time soon.
When you can't do the nice escapist activities, walk like a flanneur.
Out riding today with a couple of mates. I want to know whether there is a word to describe the partially frozen mud with a coating of ice over the top, through the woods. So, not full on sketchy ice rink, and not just cold wet slop. The stuff that your tyres crunch through, but the mud itself underneath has substance and support to it ...
My random thought yesterday was “do solar panels work when viewed with snow? Presumably not. So should you have a long brush to sweep them clear
Theres a house with solar panels on my ride to work. The pigeons seem to love sitting on them and not any of the other house in the terrace...must be warmer I think to myself. This week it's snowed, the house with solar panels had them covered in both snow and pigeons the other houses were clear of snow (and pigeons)....back to the drawing board (solar powered pigeons maybe)
I have many 'stupid' thoughts that rattle around in my head while out riding.
Yesterday it was ..
Do rats and crows get food poisoning?
And at the OP,our night riding group chat often tumbles into a mini therapy session.
It's always a good thing.
All the best to you.
Out riding especially in woods and forests, I'm always looking and listening out for nature. It's amazing what you can see. It totally takes one's mind off problems big or small.
My workroom is in the attic with a decent sized window, every so often I glance out at ever changing seasons, birds flying past, or in the distance the aircraft coming into Manchester airport and cloud formations, all these things get me through the day.
I shared one of those random thoughts with my now wife on our first date.
If you were to borrow someone else's eyes, would you see the same colours? We all know grass is green, but is that because we all see the same colour, or because we're all told that grass is green so the colour we see on the grass must be green.
I'm surprised it didn't scare her off.