Taking no risk is the biggest risk!

Riding down this lonely back road in Western MA, a road I’ve been on a thousand times but in some way for the very 1st time on this day.  I came across this little pond with a small bench, just inviting strangers to sit for a minute and enjoy the view.

There were no houses around, no small summer camps that seem to belong to this one small spot.  However, someone placed this bench here and I’m pleased they did.  See it was early spring of 2021.  I was riding down this road heading for a quick little get away by myself.  Just a one-night trip to Western MA and Eastern New York.

A solo trip, but was it?

I didn’t have anyone with me, or never met anyone along the way but I don’t think I was alone.  2020 was a year that has been filled with crazy events, lots of hate and certainly too much heartbreak.  Unprecedented times for sure.   This early spring of 2021 trip away was very much needed to get out and explore and take one of my favorite motorcycles along with me.

Just before the world got crazy, I had ended a relationship with someone I still deeply cared for and was in love with.  Sounds odd to say that but sometimes you need to walk away even if you are in love, and you don’t think you able too.  This is a very difficult thing to do.

Then came the shit show of 2020 was, the world was covered in masks, and people were staying home, it was the perfect time for me to concentrate on self-care

Time to heal and build a healthy relationship with myself again.  I had to do this before, and I knew I could do it again.  I spent so many trips in 2020 on my motorcycle and my camper where I carried the burden and the pain from this with me.  I traveled, I wandered, and I got lost a lot that year. I took my camper to off the beaten path locations, I laid out at night in fields and watched the stars, I talked to strangers I met along the way, telling them personal stories of my life.  I wrote poetry while sitting on park benches, I told my loved ones my hopes and dreams and expressed how much I loved them.   I made it a priority to be busy in my life, but not in a work sense.  I realize some people find comfort in their professional life when times get tough, and they bury themselves in work.  Others find that healing power in exercise or the gym.  I find it in getting lost, exploring and traveling.

Thats how I find myself

I took a risk that year and I so happy I did.  It’s true that you have to risk failure to find success, risk rejection to find acceptance and risk heartbreak to find love.

So, on this chilly day back in March I sat on this bench and spent some time with myself.  I remembered all the wonderful things I have in my life.  4 amazing daughters that I so proud of and love deeply, loving family members and such great friends that I would do anything for!  A garage full of awesome motorcycles that whisk me away to places like this small pond and a career that I love that allows me to do all this.

However most importantly a great relationship with myself, again!