Shifting Gears

Life is all about shifting gears – just like riding a bike. Your bike’s gearing system’s job is to help you make the most of your muscle power. Your life’s gearing system job is to help you adapt. Life, just like the road, provides twists and turns, steep inclines, and deep valleys. Imagine trying to navigate all of these roadblocks while remaining in the same gear and not using tools at your disposal to make the road a bit lighter, the hill not so strenuous, and the downhill spiral a bit more manageable. Shifting gears in life allows for breathing room from the challenges we humans face daily, if not hour by hour. It is within us to shift gears, and as I reflect on 2020, most of us did this splendidly.

Life during a pandemic brings shifting gears to the forefront.

Life has changed drastically for many of us, and the ability to adapt is never more crucial. If you don’t shift gears, the once usual, easy way of doing things becomes more difficult. As COVID waged its war, life transitioned to lockdown, which seemed incomprehensible at the time. Clubs stopped having monthly meetings, church services canceled, the economy crawled along, and livelihoods terminated. Vacations, weddings, and graduations became no more. It appeared as if life was putting on the brakes and coming to a screeching halt. As a human race, however, we shifted. We discovered Zoom, Webcasts, Facetime, and Live Streaming. We used these technologies for meetings, book clubs, Friday night poker sessions, trivia nights, church services, the Grammy’s, sporting events, and the infamous ball drop on New Year’s Eve in New York City. Shifting gears allowed us to continue our connections with friends, family, and loved ones with more ease than anticipated. Can you imagine what would have happened if we didn’t? We would have resorted to a type of pony express life where things could take days to figure out, resulting in so many lost connections – too numerous to count.

The pandemic taught me the importance of shifting down

Before 2020, things in my life were spiraling all over the place. There was not enough time in the day to accomplish everything I wanted to do. Couple that with engagements night after night, and our home became nothing more than a pitstop. My husband’s and I’s weekly calendar looked more like a battle strategy than for daily living. Who will go where and when, who will pick up the groceries, make dinner, clean the bathrooms – these were the questions of the day. On top of it all, I had to try and fit in a time block to “relax.”

The pandemic of 2020 taught me the importance of shifting down. I put the breaks on the fast downhill ride that leads to a panicked state of “how do I stop this train?” As the pandemic steamed forward and events canceled, shutting down my computer at the end of my workday meant home for me – an oasis for the first time in a long time. With no appointments or engagements to run to in the evenings, I was able to unwind, cook dinner, and enjoy a cocktail hour with my husband. With drinks in tow, we took to sitting in our driveway, waving at neighbors and friends out for an evening stroll. This simple connection of a wave and “good evening” gave me joy daily. My husband and I relished the whole summer as we looked at the weekends ahead of us with the guilty pleasure of knowing we had nothing to do and nowhere to be. We gardened, rode bikes, and became reacquainted with our lives at home. My current lifestyle is one I would not have recognized pre 2020, but what a welcome sight it is. Not having the ability to shift down would have left me without this realization. Life would have come to a halt, leaving me scratching my head.

Shifting gears is constant

Shifting gears is constant, but for many, not an option considered. Humans have the distinct ability to make life more complicated than it has to be by trying to stay in the same place as life marches forward and circumstances change. Being stuck in life is not where anyone should be. The freeing feeling is where you adapt to the situation at hand so that those challenges in life, or even the dull, monotonous moments, can be navigated a bit easier.

I am reminded of this never ending shifting as I spend my winter break, the time between the Christmas holiday and the New Year, at home. These precious few weeks have always been my favorite of the year – the outrageously insane schedule I keep slows way down, and I dedicate this time to family and nesting. I try to stay in my PJ’s all day — binging on media, organizing my spice cabinet, cleaning out the basement. I go for long walks with my husband and make all sorts of plans for the New Year. It’s my time for rejuvenation and rest.

This year is different. My break at home does not seem as special as it used to, simply because it is merely more of the same – I have had numerous weekends and evenings at home – too many to count. I shifted my expectations of what this week should be, and spiced up this winter break with new plans, new thoughts, and different routines. I said to hell with it and drank wine every night. I did not check my work emails – not once. I baked (which for those who know me, is something I never do). I made a list of all the movies I had never seen and checked them off my list. I took a few bike rides in the cold which was not as terrible as I thought.

As I freed up my time from my normal organizational winter break mode, my creativity flowed. I looked at each room in the house with a different eye, planning to incorporate more art and color in each room to create a more vibrant home. I rode the flat, slow weeks of the break with lighter gear and came away a lot less weary. I shifted my perspective and grew a little in the process.

Staying in the same place doesn’t allow for growth and hinders stamina, which is the crucial ability to sustain the physical or mental effort necessary to move forward.