Spare Change

Compared to some of the other blogs I’ve written, I’ll keep this blog short. Fitting, considering I like to find the quickest way to do the best job I can, from designing to trying to dress my daughter for day camp. Time is money; I’d pay to have extra time in a day.

Early this summer I started bicycling to and from Generator Design each day.

As a mum with barely an hour to herself in a day, I had to. There was no getting to the gym. My step count might’ve looked good… if you added “km” after the number. When I started at Generator Design I wrote a whole blog on how to keep healthy in front of a computer. Still, because life can be good at life-ing sometimes, I ran into health issues, family illnesses, pregnancy, maternity leave, the pandemic, and raising a wonderful daughter. The focus on myself simply wasn’t there.

Summer break provided the window of opportunity that I needed. I’ll be real: I was so used to having a pressing reason to do anything, that I needed a reason to exercise. My daughter started day camp, therefore I would be the one to walk her there, then find my way to the office. There was my reason. I had an hour and a half, I needed to get somewhere, and I needed to move more. That met my personal criteria for doing things.

I brought my ride out of the depths of the garage—my beloved mountain bike I’ve had for 17 years that I purchased with money won from a chicken-cooking competition—and seized the opportunity. I half joked to myself that I might never have biked at all had I not won that bike. Effort applied to that competition rewarded me, literally, down the road.

I’ve been biking for a couple months, with much thanks to my friend and Generator Design web dev, Emma. She’s shown me that any weather is cycling weather. Now, I get 90 minutes of walking and bike riding in a day. It’s not the gym, only a small change in my mind, and hardly spare time. But like working in a new design program, I’m going to get faster at it. I’m worth it.

A little change goes a long way—or at least all the way to the office and back.