The other day I went biking with my brother. It was the first warm and dry day of the week, so I was quite excited to head to the seven-mile trail with my backpack filled with water bottles, an ace bandage, and a handful of bandaids, just in case. I don’t even know where in the world we could have gotten Barbie bandaids. I have a feeling that my brother would rather bleed to death than to wear a Barbie bandaid.

The first half of the trail was rocky and covered with bumpy tree roots. The dirt path was set on a hillside with woods and a field above and a bluff and train tracks below. The best part was when I peacefully rode through the edge of the forest while listening to the soundtrack of Anne of Green Gables on my phone, which was wonderful!

The trail consisted of hills, many hills. They stretched up and down, then up, then back down again. It was scored with rocky slopes and miniature mountains. When we were at the top of a hill, we would peddle and coast all the way down in the hope that we could make it to the top of the next hill.

If we were lucky, we didn’t have to peddle at all and instead just rode up the hill with the ease that comes with momentum. Nevertheless, in many other cases, the uphill climb was just too tall and far for us to make it to the top without a struggle, even with the gears set in our benefit.

You know the feeling; your bike starts to slow down, you peddle as hard as you can and wonder if you’ll make it to the top. The wheels spin slower and slower yet you’re using all your strength and energy. Then you have to decide; should I keep on peddling or get off and push my bike up to the top? You know that the wheels are barely even moving anymore, but you still want to keep on trying and stay on that bike. It would be your last resort to surrender to the hill and give up. But when do you know when it’s time to give up? You know you can’t continue like this forever, or your bike will just tip over with a lack of movement. You must choose to keep on moving ever so slowly or give up and walk.

This story can also be related to our lives. We all have hills to climb and we all want to get to the top without a struggle, but when we begin to lose our speed, momentum, and strength, we wonder if we’ll ever make it to the top. It’s hard to know when we’ve given all that we can give, and it’s even harder to know when to quit. To get off the bike and push it up the hill may seem like a failure, to give up. But sometimes we need to say, “that’s enough,” get off the bike, and truly accept that we have given all we that can.

You can only give so much.

When we have to use up all our strength, power, and energy to peddle up that hill, eventually we can’t give anymore and our bike will slowly come to a stop and simply fall over! It’s okay to take a break and say “no more” when you’ve done all that you can do. Knowing when that time is can be difficult. How long should I keep peddling? The only person who knows that answer is you. You are allowed to get off the bike, slow down, and walk to the top. It’s not giving up hope, it’s saying no to “falling over.”

Don’t breakdown, take a break!

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Do you enjoy bike riding?

Do you need to say, “that’s enough” to something in your life right now?

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Megan Joy