You know when you walk into a room and you can feel the tension of something that happened right before you arrived? Somehow, you feel that there was an intense argument; the air might even feel “thick.” Before your entrance, you were neither aware nor involved with the fight, but it left its mark on you.
It’s Week 52 (yes, a whole year) into a pandemic that has affected the entire planet. People are unemployed or underemployed, depressed, anxious, grieving, angry, frustrated, disheveled, or, at the very least, in a weird funk. For some, it has upended every aspect of our lives, while for others, it’s simply a passing sense of unease. Regardless, everyone has felt it.
Thinking about that argument I mentioned earlier, imagine how this collective feeling of disquiet and uncertainty is affecting each of us, adding weight to what might normally be small, momentary setbacks. This is a bit more than just awkwardness from a room full of people; it’s the shared uneasiness of 8 billion people. As a result, even our smallest burdens have been magnified.
I feel it too. Some days, very acutely.
When faced with a mental or emotional block, the best way for me to move past it is to divert my energy towards the physical. You could call it my somatic therapy.
This is why I recently started to train for a century bicycle ride. My plan is to start slow, get used to being on my bike again, and then build up to one long ride for endurance and two shorter rides to build speed and strength. I’ll also include strength training with calisthenic exercises twice a week.
When I turn my phone off, get outside, and move my body, I feel much more grounded, and I gain a sense of clarity, clearing the mental fog that’s been keeping me from seeing the bigger picture. The more overwhelming life seems, the more I need to shake it out. Biking, hiking, lying in grass, walking my dog, dancing barefoot in sand, climbing a tree… these are things that help me come back to myself.
When the weight of the world seems great, like it might right now, I invite you to walk away from your screen, leave your phone at home, go outside, and just move however feels good. Then reach out and connect with someone because we’re all feeling this together, but we can also help each other move forward and come back to ourselves.
To read more by Torie Klocko, visit her website by clicking here.