It's not about the bike

Though the temperature was in the mid-70s today, the air had that crunchy scent which suggested that a season was about to wave goodbye. I decided to catch a few whiffs of it, of the beauty that is the outdoors, on my bike. Yet, when I took my bike out, I realized that my tire was less enthusiastic than usual. Completely deflated.

In high school when I got my bike, Dad taught me how to change it. I did it once or twice, but always with his help. It's hard to start, and hard to finish. College wasn't much more independent. I was always close enough to home to wait another week or two.

At one point today, after about ten minutes, I doubted if I could do it. The tire was sticking to the wheel frame. I thought about just taking it to a bike shop. Then I thought about my week. I thought about the "I can," and removed "I can't" from my list of options. I did.

Maybe in life we have too many options. Maybe we give up when something isn't easy, and chalk it up to physical/innate inability, when really all it is is mental toughness. Because really, it wasn't about the bike tube at all. It's about knowing that the moment I took copping out away, I did.

Hard work is really the answer to most things in the end. Ask Bill Gates or Dr. Baum or Michelle Obama. If nothing else, even in failure, even in mediocrity, you know that you did the best that you could do; in the end, that's all that we have a right to expect of ourselves...nothing more, but also nothing less.

When I was out of track junior year, I wondered what my track times would have been if I had gone all-out on the hard workouts and raced my guts out. I decided that I didn't want to get to the end of life, and wish I had tried. So I made a rule...every time that I thought "I can't" in my head, I had to run faster. Every time that I said "I can't," I did. That is such a valuable thing to learn about yourself.

I truly believe that the mind is a muscle. You have to train it. You have to exercise it. Just as no one can go out and run a 4 minute mile without training, neither can we expect to "eat healthy" or "do better at school" without starting small and getting bigger. You don't either have self-discipline or not. You have developed it, or are developing it. Every step on that path is one to be proud of. Start small, and work outwards.

So today wasn't about fixing a bike. It was about fixing a way of thinking. Somewhere along the line, I softened up. Maybe the "I can" factor is why I like to be underestimated...why I like to do the things that the boys are doing, which are on average more difficult. Because you see, it's not an innate ability that separates us. It's the desire to try, the ability to believe, all combined with a few tablespoons of mental toughness.

Run, baby, run. Ride, baby, ride. Try fixing a bike. Try moving a table. Try "I can." I will do it too...because you know, if everyone thought I can, we could change the world.

P.S. It's such a wonderful life.