MENTAL STRATEGY FOR DEALING WITH ADVERSITY
My dear departed Mother, God bless her soul, was a fountain of wisdom. In every situation in life, distressing or otherwise, some old saying, expression or proverb would find a way out of her mouth. A big regret of mine is that I hadn’t started paying attention to her vision earlier. There was a lot of insight and experience wrapped up in that wonderful woman. One of my favorite expressions of hers was “This Too Shall Pass”. That one, alone, has done more to make my life as a long distance motorcycle traveler much more rewarding.
My Amazon #1 best-selling travel book, Road Work: Images and Insights of a Modern Day Explorer, has been described by reviewers as a volume that uses long distance motorcycle travel as a metaphor for life. You’ll get no argument from me on that assessment. Today we’re going to talk about the most valuable tool you have at your disposal to deal with unpleasant situations…on the road…and in life itself.
The Hardships We Accept
Long distance motorcycle riders willingly expose themselves to inconvenience, discomforts and dangers that are not factors in the lives of other travelers. It’s simply part of the game…a part that makes the pursuit particularly appealing to me. If it were easy, everyone would be doing it. I take a certain amount of pride in taking on challenges that most folks would never consider. These days I meet all the challenges with the words “This Too Shall Pass”.
Unless you’re the type of rider who does little more than take short rides close to home, you are going to be faced with situations that are going require you to call upon all the physical and mental strength and endurance you can muster. If you expect to deal with hardships you’ve got half the battle won already.
The Usual Culprits
Near the top of every serious tourer’s list is probably weather. Not every day on the road is going to be bright, sunny and offer perfect riding temperature. No…some days are going to be down right miserable. These are the perfect days to remind yourself that “This Too Shall Pass”.
In nearly four decades on two wheels I’ve found myself in a whole lot of nasty weather. Seasoned riders know that rain storms are generally intermittent and scattered in nature. It always confounds me when I see a group of bikers huddled under a highway overpass waiting for moderate rain to stop falling. Ride on, Folks. Chances are you will ride out of the storm in a lot less time than you might spend hiding from it.
Prepare For It
I took a wonderful quick overnight trip this past fall up into The Catskill Mountains of New York. Day one was picture perfect and I spent more than 8 hours in the saddle enjoying twisting, curvy, rural back roads through beautiful country. That evening I sat around the bonfire with some dear friends and caught up on old times. It was a great day! At least a “10”.
The next morning I awoke to falling rain and a weather forecast that looked grim for the entire ride home. I knew it was coming. The weather forecasters had called for it, and they were right for a change. I put on my rain gear and headed for home on the first, most expedient, interstate highway I reached. Funny thing is it didn’t bother me at all to have to make the return trip home in nasty weather. I knew it was coming and I was prepared for it with the right foul weather gear. More importantly, I was prepared for it mentally. I knew, the day before, that this was going to be a cold, wet ride. I also knew that yesterday’s ride was one for the record books and I wasn’t going to let a little rain dampen my spirit today. There would many many great rides in the future. “This Too Shall Pass”
Unexpected Situations
Some adversity you don’t see coming. There are not always weather forecasts and weather radar apps to give you a heads up on trouble on the horizon. One of my least favorite episodes is dealing with a flat motorcycle tire. I’ve led a pretty charmed life in this regard. I recently ended a 25 year long streak without experiencing a single flat tire. Then I had two within a month’s time!
It’s not fun, but guess what? “This Too Shall Pass”. Get off the bike, kick the tire and shout out a few choice expletives. Then get to work plugging the punctured tire. In a previous post we discussed what every serious touring motorcyclist should be carrying on their bike. A tire repair kit and a portable air compressor are paramount. Ten minutes later you should be back on the road. An hour later you’ll have forgotten all about it. Yes; “This Too Shall Pass”.
Traffic…What I Hate Most
If you follow the Roadcraft USA online resource you know that I live on Long Island in a congested suburb just 30 miles from the New York City line. Awful traffic is a way of life for us here. It’s the reason I rarely ride at home and can usually be found carving up some mountain roads hundreds or thousands of miles away.
Patience is not one of my strong points, though I’d like to think I’ve mellowed a bit in recent years. When it comes to Long Island and Metropolitan New York traffic the words “This Too Shall Pass” don’t carry too much weight. Traffic can be horrendous 24 hours per day here. But I always keep in mind that I’ll be putting the concrete jungle in my rear view mirror in short order. I concentrate on the wonderful miles that are ahead of me; not the ones I’m forced to endure while making my escape.
Your Brain Is Your Bitch
There is only one thing in life that we, as human beings, have absolute control over and that is our thoughts. I can’t tell Mother Nature not to rain on me, I can’t keep a random nail from finding its way into my tire and I have no control over the abominable New York Metro area traffic. But I can tell myself how to mentally cope with all of that.
Decades of riding have taught me that whatever challenge I’m currently experiencing will soon be behind me. There’s no point in making yourself crazy over it. Force the tension to leave your body and you’ll be feeling better about everything in short order.
You already have possession of the single most important tool required to deal with every contingency. You carry it in your helmet every time you throw a leg over the bike. It’s your brain. It’s yours to control. Control it. Don’t let it control you. Every time you have any kind of unpleasant encounter remind yourself that “This Too Shall Pass” and ride on into the good stuff. Beyond every challenge, every threat and every inconvenience, wonderful miles await. There’s a rainbow waiting for you after the storm.
How do you deal with inconvenience and the tension it brings with it? Let us know in the comments below. Be sure to subscribe to Roadcraft USA for occasional email notifications when new features hit the blog. If you have any specific questions you would like answered, please feel free to contact us directly via email.
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How is it possible that you and I had the same mother?
I find that at my age,I’m in my 60’s biking gives me a stress release I don’t get from other sources, when I’m on the road for some reason all my medical issues and life’s demand seems to disappear…I ride all year , when roads are clear of course and people keep asking ” aren’t you cold? ” lol, I wear winter gear which makes it comfortable and I notice that since I do this, my riding skills don’t diminish, but only get better since I don’t put my bike away for winter, got my bike endorsement in 2020 at 60 years old and bought my bike at 61 and so far have ridden over 4,261 miles so far…the way I look at it I’ve learned a lot about biking, maintenence, road skills, road safety, etc, riding in cold weather isn’t for everybody, being that you have to use hand controls with bulky heated winter gloves on, and cold air hitting you, and bundled up in heavy clothing under by bike jacket and wear insulated armored bike pants that can get sweaty inside at times, but I installed windshield and hand windshields and often stop at McDonald’s, etc to warm up and take bathroom breaks if need be, biking is exciting to me because I didn’t get a chance to ride in my younger years due to life’s demands, work load and family responsibility , but now I’m an empty nest and it’s just me and my wife of 40 years, so now it’s my time to really LIVE!!! and enjoy the life that I put off for decades taking care of everyone else’s needs…my brothers and sisters said ” you’re too old to be riding a bike..fast forward to present day and over 4,000 miles later..they are silent!!!! At least I can say when I’m in my 80,s – 90′ ( God willing )that I did it..I finally accomplished a life long dream to get my bike license and ride a motorcycle instead of sitting on my front porch in my 90’s watching bikers go by and saying to myself ” Man, that looks like fun..I wish it was me” Well it IS me!!!! While driving with my wife before I took the MSF class I used to see bikers on the road and my wife would say” pretty soon, babe you’ll get yours” she saw the burning passion I had…and this passion is all year round, lots of times I still go in parking lots to practice my skills, which have saved me in numerous occasions with close calls in traffic and I had to maneuver out the way, I developed keen defensive driving skills from driving a company work van through multiple states in the worst traffic imaginable for 16 years and this skill I transferred to my biking skills..so when someone says ” you can’t do that” or you shouldn’t do that.. Prove them wrong and GO FOR IT!! you may never get a chance later..I’ve said enough.. peace out!