Opinions - The importance of anchors in our lives

ANCHOR - a person or thing which provides stability or confidence in an otherwise uncertain situation

How do we manage and balance the stresses of life? Life is a busy roller coaster, with work to do, families to feed and bills to pay. Finding balance is not a task that is easy, and yet, we must. It is absolutely essential to find a proper balance between work, play, and life. Walking on a tightrope between these is no good. Everyone has something that allows us to keep going, and do the things we do, while trying to find balance in this crazy thing called life. For some, its their family. for others, it is their work. It can be anything.

The point is, we must take care of this 'thing'. It must be protected. It needs an anchor.

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I've made it a point to protect the thing that allows me to do what I do. That "thing" is my mind and my body.

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With my motorcycle, it is my critical time alone. Being on the open road allows me to meditate, clear the stresses and make the mind obtain clarity once more. Hope takes care of the cobwebs in the head. Motorcycling is such a medicine for the brain and the senses. That feeling of I being in control of my destiny is a very powerful feeling. When I put on my race suit, I feel like Batman. And these are seminal moments of clarity and focus. There is nothing else. There is no distraction. I make my choices unimpended. This feeling triggers a switch which reboots my brain and nourishes the soul.

The motorcycle takes care of the mind.

A bad day becomes a good day when I hit the iron. My idea of the gym is to break a little sweat each day and set aside time to unwind. I make it a rule to not go three days without exercise, not to miss Mondays and work out atleast 4 days a week. The gains are many, but the most important gain is that of a sense of self-discipline.

When I do my workouts, I stop making excuses. It helps me build a mindset that feels and works like it can achieve anything. Training for me is all about pushing plateaus. To do that requires a strong mind. That is what the gym has helped me to get. Consistency has been another result. The gains are visible in every part of my life; from work, lifestyle and with people.

The gym takes care of the body.

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These, then, are my anchors. Motorcycling and the gym. They help me anchor my days and get ready for the next.

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We are all looking to improve our skills, and work hard while trying to find that all important balance in our busy life. From family, friends, jobs, paying the bills, relationships, the world is pulling us into a million directions simultaneously. It is a complex shit that we get into, and all of us experience it on a daily basis, just at different levels of intensity and degrees of volume.

And this is what I wish to say, to sum up;

Take care of and protect your machine. Find your anchor. At the end of the day, it does not matter how many people you have around you, be it co-workers, friends, teammates or loved ones, no one knows your machine better than you and only you know what you need. It is only your anchor that help you to keep your machine running well.

Helmet on. World goes away.

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Please upvote, comment and follow. Read some of my other opinions posts via the links below:

Opinions - Our toys have not changed. They have only gotten bigger

Opinions - Of Mortal Dreams and Motorcycles

Opinions - Of motorcycles and love stories

Opinions - Of Scuba Diving and Motorcycle Racers - A slow life between fast lanes?

Motorcycle Stories - How I got into Motorcycle racing

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Read the letters that my bike writes on a weekly basis:

Hope writes a letter - Hello world! I am Hope!