The days and weeks are all becoming a bit of a blur.I joke some mornings with Mayu, popping my head out the tent.
“Mayu it’s cloudy”
“Really!!”
“No Im kidding, its clear blue sky again” Gets her every time!
Windhoek is the capital of Namibia, Mayu and I were quite excited about the thought of being in a city, for the soul purpose of eating. And eat we did! I got into a steady rhythm of baking a cake every day. With free tea and coffee in the guesthouse, I was averaging about 8 slices of cake a day.
Man I still miss it. Eyes glued to the television watching Roland Garros, just eating cake.
It was a rapid shift from cyclist to slob.
A week is a quite a long time for us to stay in one spot. The longest in fact. Apart from eating and tennis, there wasn’t much I enjoyed about Windhoek. I guess if I was planning my perfect holiday destination, it would include a plentiful supply of fruit and veg, flour, eggs and milk. In a beautiful location, with an oven. We had been waiting for a package to arrive from our friend Niel’s sister. Once we had it, we were off.
Getting back to our ‘normal’ life was easy.
Packing and unpacking our life each day and riding north to somewhere we’ve never been before. If you haven’t seen ground hog day you won’t understand the title. It’s a day that keeps on repeating its self.
Each morning I wake to the sound of birds, just before sunrise. I’m in a tent, the first duty is packing up the sleeping bag, mat and pillow. Leaving the warmth of the tent I head for the toilet. Make some breakfast, and pack up as quickly as we can to get on the road. This is the same morning every morning. I am always with Mayu and we always have the same routine.
The important part comes next. Alone time. Time to reflect on the morning, the day before, the week, my life.
Think think think.
Yes 6 or more hours of thinking everyday. Mayu is close by, but its difficult to talk on the road. So I entertain myself with my own mind. Recently I’ve been thinking about the way I woke up. How I reacted about something trivial. How my mood was whilst I was stirring the porridge in the morning. Because we are replaying the same day, I can try and do the same task more positively.
I started to notice that I have this face grind kind of expression when I wash my clothes in the sink each day. Now 50% of time I have a smile. So in that regard I am half way there.
I’m not sure why I hadn’t thought about a new day like this before. Waking up each morning, thinking that this is a chance to improve my attitude from the day before. I think our circumstances give us a better opportunity to think like this. We are not having very much interaction with other people. Its me and its Mayu.
We get a wave or two from passers by, but that doesn’t quite fulfil our need for conversation. So we talk to each other. This has both positive and negative outcomes. Mayu receives all of my good moods and all of my bad moods. And vis a versa. I’m not sure whether its easier to be in a good mood or a bad mood when meeting a stranger, all I know, is that for the most part you will never see them again.
The key difference I’ve found when being around the same person vs a stranger. Is I know how the person, I know well. Will react. More or less, mood depending. That gives me the opportunity to chose my approach. If I approach Mayu in a bad mood, I get a bad reaction. She gets in a bad mood. Then I have to apologise. Sometimes, I don’t even apologise. But when given the alone time, I get to think about my mood, mostly the morning mood.
And because its ground hog day, I get to re live that moment, and this time I do it better.
This experience has taught me that regardless of whether I’m interacting with a stranger or someone I know I will see again. I can influence my mood and theirs. If I leave an interaction with a negative attitude or feeling, I let the next person I meet, be a blank page.
A chance to start positively. And let everyday and interaction be like ground hog day.
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