Start here to shift to a higher gear

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Shift to A Higher Gear

The First of many posts.

Many of you readers know me and my sister personally. Some of you may be new and I hope you are and I hope you will come back. Recently my sister and I lost our Dad. Many of you have been so nice and sent me messages of love and support and have inquired about how I am doing. I haven't had time to answer everyone individually so I hope today with this post you will see how I am doing. ( I promise I am still working on getting back to each and everyone of you.)

My sister said, "you remember as a kid when you would tell the other kids that your Dad was the biggest, fastest, and best Dad on the block? We would have been right." My Dad was a competitor. He loved sports and they were a big part of his life. So, in turn growing up they became a part of my life and my siblings lives as well. If you would like to see all the things my Dad did in picture form my sister made a beautiful photo slide show that you can watch. Let me warn you the first two songs are totally my Dad the last song is a tear jerker. I have to turn it down or I fall apart during that song. I love my Dad and I will miss him everyday.

I have to tell you that these last few weeks have been really. really. really. hard. I think about my Dad a lot. I think about what I should have done with him and what I never got to do with him. I think about all the things I should have said to him. Etc, etc. All of these thoughts felt like brick after brick after brick placed on my shoulders. The physical pain of grief is very real. I have never felt it like this before ever. I realized one day that I had to make a choice. This grief that I was emotionally and physically feeling could keep me down and it could rule my life if I chose to let it. On the hand I could use this experience and make changes for the better and rise above the grief. As I thought about my choices that day I thought about a story my older brother shared with us at my Dad's funeral.

When my older brother was in high school (it may have been earlier than this but my memory isn't that great) he started cycling with my Dad. My Dad was dang fast on the bike and on running. I think we have all wanted to beat my Dad and my older brother was proud to say that he actually had beat my Dad on the run portion of a biathlon that they were both competing in. He was so stoked. He jumped on his bike and took off for the bike portion of the race. Well, a little while later who should come zooming by? Yep, Dad. As he passed my brother he yelled out, "shift to a higher gear!"

Shift to a higher gear..... I have had many thoughts about these five words since that day. I knew that day that I was facing my choices what I had to do. My Dad would not want me to get lost in my grief. No way. My Dad was always my biggest fan and always cheered me on to do more. In fact in high school my Dad wrote me a letter for my high school English class and he said, "She (referring to me) is the one in our family with the most competitive spirit of all our children. This young women is a winner and does not like to be second. She is not the kind of person that will set unrealistic goals however, but will work hard to achieve the task that she has set before herself. You sometimes have to use some gentle persuasion to get her to excel." Ahh, thanks Dad.

So, I know what I have to do. I have to shift to a higher gear. This has so many meanings and there are so many ways to do this. In fact my mind has been flooded with thoughts about shifting to a higher gear that it's crazy. I have even had an intense thought that I am suppose to share these thoughts. I thought it was crazy to want to share these thoughts. I talked with my husband and my sister about it and they both said go for it.So, hence the blog. I have made a list of the things I want to do to accomplish this task and I will share them with you. I promise that I have one on this list that is totally crazy. I will need a lot of "gentle persuasion" to accomplish this task. So, I hope you will come back and that you will share this blog with others so that we can all " shift to a higher gear," together.

Dream big and shift to a higher gear.

Corrine

Lets talk about shifting to a higher gear in bicycle terms. On your bike you have gears. When riding your bike you need to find that gear that you can spin in comfortablely but still get somewhere. When you are in a lower gear there is less resistance on the pedals. This is a great gear to use when you are climbing and trying to get up some hill. However, when you are on the flat part of your ride if you stay in that lower gear your legs start spinning to fast and you don't cover ground very quickly. However, if you shift to a higher gear you move farther for each spin on your pedals. The resistance is more and this might seem harder to you but if you keep spinning in those higher gears you will soon cover more ground with less resistance because your body will adapted and grow stronger.
I think in life a lot of times we find ourselves stuck in the lower gear. Spinning our wheels literally and figuratively and not covering much ground. This gear is easy. Not a lot of resistance is place on us so it doesn't hurt and we don't have to push very hard but we keep moving. On the other hand if we would just shift to a higher gear, maybe just one gear higher than we have been at we will start to cover more ground. It's going to be hard and you will have to work to get use to this new gear. Your mind and body will slowly grow and develop and this higher gear won't seem so hard anymore. At this point you could turn around and see the ground you have covered and the progress you have made. Then it will be time to try again and shift to an even higher gear.
I told you in my last post I was going to shift to a higher gear that might sound crazy and it is. It will be really hard for me to accomplish but I know with hard work and dedication I can do it.

This is my Dad and last year he and his wife went to Colorado and did a 120 mile bike ride over three mountain passes in one day. They had so much fun they signed up to do it again this July 14th. I had a crazy idea and talked with my dad's wife and my husband (cause I am going to need his help) and asked them both about me riding for my dad this July. AAAAH!! Now I consider myself a runner who bikes on the side. Not a biker that is going to ride 120 miles in one day starting at and elevation of 8000 and climbing to 10,000 or 11,000 feet. To train for this as well as the other races I have already planned for myself is really going to require me to shift to a higher gear. I have learned one thing that anyone is capable of anything if they put in the time and effort in to doing it. I know I can do this but I know that I will need lots of help and gentle persuassion and motivation.

Will you please stick with me for the next few months and be my cheering squad and help me shift to a higher gear and maybe just maybe I can help you in the process as well.

Shift on everyone. Find that higher gear in whatever area of your life and hit that shift button.

Shifting to a higher gear.
Corrine