Nearly a year ago I was preparing myself for a big change: a change of job, role, sector and working context.
About the same time, I decided to change foot. For over 15 years of cycling to work, pretty much every day, I’d always rested and hopped about on my right foot – at the many traffic lights and junctions to and from work; the left leg never used, bent double, toe strapped in toe clip.
Result – a dodgy left hip and a chronically sore tendon at the back of my right knee.
If you’re going to change some things; why not change everything, was my reasoning: job, route and standing leg. And so I was wobbly, uncertain, off balance and uncomfortable on my bike – just as I was in the new job. Great idea!
But in a way, learning to stop, stand and push off on my left leg has been a metaphor for my life and the year at work.
Many was the time in a long cold winter and an endless wet spring, I yearned for the certainty and sure footedness of old. But the other day on a summer cycle in, I noticed I am unconsciously surer now, left-footed on the bike – more confident in my balance and stronger kicking-off.
A year of trying something new, and it has become something I can more or less do. Much like my job. Practice makes perfect; we’re never too old to adapt and learn.
Achilles & Aristotle 