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One of a few wall decorations in our place.
Here are our bikes. |
A little over a year ago, in May 2013, is when all of this began...our "alternative lifestyle." The first step in our journey, and what I believe was the most important one and one that we stumbled upon fortuitously was deciding to own bikes. The transition from car-commuting to biking was ripe for the doing, given that we moved into a place that was about two miles from my workplace and my partner was working from home at the time. Suddenly, I could choose whether to walk or bike to work. Most people I work with, know, or can imagine living in today's
US cannot even begin to fathom this choice. This is unfortunate, given all the benefits that come with working close to home and vice versa.
When we were deciding to get a place near my work that I could walk or bike to, we were unaware of the extent to which this decision would make us realize how little independence we had in today's consumerist society and thus, force us to examine our lifestyle choices and their impact on our environment. Either way, with that decision the floodgates opened and our outlook on efficient living and priorities shifted drastically. It also helped that we moved into a pretty urban area, because everything we needed, except most of our family, was within biking distance.
As my partner was learning the best ways to fix and maintain our bikes, he began to stumble upon all kinds of
blogs about biking, existential philosophy, and the unique lifestyle it offered. The more he read, the more he discovered how much of what he and I were talking about in terms of health, finances, and generosity, aligned with what these people were describing. With time and a virtual community to learn from, we started to experiment with our daily choices and actions:
- We planned our errands around biking and spent time looking up maps for safe routes.
- We discussed and tracked our spending, which led to many an important conversation that all couples need to have on a regular basis (we have them at the beginning of each month).
- We started to look at what we ate, where we bought our food, and how we prepared it.
- We reviewed our daily activities and decided on what we really wanted to be doing with our time.
- We discussed, developed and recorded 3-month, 1-year, 5-year, and 10-year goals.
- The more we explored, discussed, and decided on a plan of action, the more we found ourselves committed to a low-waste and low-stress lifestyle that comes with knowing "what is ENOUGH."
The catalyst for all of this was the bike. The power of disconnecting our lives from the car in today's day and age is infinite. The source of this power is a sense of liberation and connection that one gets from being able to engage with all that is in our world in a
mindful and direct way. Bikes benefit our well-being in myriad ways, from physical health, to lowering our financial expenditures and environmental impact. While cars deplete our sense of humanity and wonder, bikes restore it by fostering our connection to physical space, and thus the living beings in it, as well.
It's also hell of a lot more fun than driving a car!
Happy biking!
~Modern Akhmatova
