Life is Scary.
For those that hadn't heard, Steve Tilford took a nasty spill during a training ride. Traumatic brain injuries (TBI) are no joke, and Steve has a long road to recovery ahead of him. In the span of a split second, life changes, perhaps permanently, in ways you can't possibly predict.
My own TBI happened right after my best race season to date. I was on the downside of peak fitness and recovering from a series of illnesses, but I was still stronger and lighter than I had been in decades. An auto accident knocked me out of the world for a while and the effects lingered for longer than I would have liked (my wife says she still sees some). However, it was nowhere near the level of what Steve's facing.
Steve wasn't wearing a helmet when he hit the dog. I don't think now's the time for helmet-use debates (I know where I stand on it), but rather to send some positive thoughts his way. I doubt that will do a whole lot of good, but it can't hurt.
Life can change in an instant, when some mundane element of your life that you've done a gazillion times before goes slightly wrong. With the infinite possibilities within the universe, the fact that anything goes "right" is amazing. And yet, we are somehow surprised when we get a curve ball.
Sure you can take all the precautions in the world, isolating yourself from danger and insulating yourself from that which might hurt you- but that really isn't living, is it? You have to make risk-reward choices all of the time, and occasionally it doesn't go your way. That's life.
Life is scary.
Every time I clip into my pedals to go play in traffic on hard, unforgiving surfaces, I'm rolling the dice. Usually I'm not much of a gambler, but this is one of those times it's better for me to play the game and see where it goes. Life is better when I take these sort of chances.
Life is scary, but living is fun.
My own TBI happened right after my best race season to date. I was on the downside of peak fitness and recovering from a series of illnesses, but I was still stronger and lighter than I had been in decades. An auto accident knocked me out of the world for a while and the effects lingered for longer than I would have liked (my wife says she still sees some). However, it was nowhere near the level of what Steve's facing.
Steve wasn't wearing a helmet when he hit the dog. I don't think now's the time for helmet-use debates (I know where I stand on it), but rather to send some positive thoughts his way. I doubt that will do a whole lot of good, but it can't hurt.
Life can change in an instant, when some mundane element of your life that you've done a gazillion times before goes slightly wrong. With the infinite possibilities within the universe, the fact that anything goes "right" is amazing. And yet, we are somehow surprised when we get a curve ball.
Sure you can take all the precautions in the world, isolating yourself from danger and insulating yourself from that which might hurt you- but that really isn't living, is it? You have to make risk-reward choices all of the time, and occasionally it doesn't go your way. That's life.
Life is scary.
Every time I clip into my pedals to go play in traffic on hard, unforgiving surfaces, I'm rolling the dice. Usually I'm not much of a gambler, but this is one of those times it's better for me to play the game and see where it goes. Life is better when I take these sort of chances.
Life is scary, but living is fun.
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