Eeyore Brain

Today has turned out to be a very dreary spring day, complete with dark, foreboding clouds and steady rain. My ride to work was nice however, mostly because I had a friendly tailwind encouraging me for the entire ten miles.

As my workday came to a close I started dreading the journey back home. The more I thought about it, the more reasons I came up with to feel dismal and rather quickly I developed a full-blown case of Eeyore Brain. I had become dramatically pessimistic about everything: the dark day, the cold rain, the energy sucking headwind, my stiff quads…I just felt so tired.

While I was gingerly pulling on my damp cycling clothes, I decided that my ride home was going to be awful and that I would simply have to grin and bear it.

The first few minutes of pedaling down the road fulfilled my prediction of doom. I don’t know why but my quads became very sore while at work today and my legs simply did not want to move once I got on my bike. Combining that with the gloomy weather, the only thing that kept me moving down the road was the force of habit. I settled in for a slow, plodding ride home.

But my little bike had some tricks up its sleeve. It wasn’t long before it started nudging me,

“Hey, this wind isn’t that strong, we can go faster than this.”
“Your legs aren’t stiff as you think they are, you drama queen.”
“Look! Puddles!”

When people tell me it is nasty weather out and that I shouldn’t dare to ride my bike, I usually tell them that, “The weather outside always looks worse from the inside.” It is a statement I have found to be true. No matter how awful a day seems to be, once I am outside, riding my bike, any weather becomes at least somewhat enjoyable.

But today my Eeyore brain refused my acknowledge this truth. Thankfully, my bike was willing to step up the plate and remind me.

From then on I enjoyed the gentle rain and softly blowing wind. The air was filled with the joy of spring. Before I knew it, my bike and I had made it home.