Stationary Bike

Life has once again thrown a monkey wrench into my plans for the gym, just as I was finally getting a foothold (pun, I suppose, intended) on the stationary bike. It's amazing how many things can get in the way of something seemingly so simple.
 
In any case, I began thinking about the bike. In the course of a half-hour on a stationary bike, you go, well, nowhere. But as you go nowhere, there is a screen telling you that you've gone six miles, that you've burned some calories, and that you can catch up on some news or music or reruns while you motor ahead. So, while you are going nowhere, you're actually getting farther ahead than you do in many other parts of your life.
 
We are so accustomed to feeling as though we must have visible accomplishments each day. Have we finished a task, or brought home a paycheck? Have we cooked a gourmet meal or made the house visibly cleaner? Yet, as on the stationary bike, forward movement is not always completely visible. Just like that "calories burned" line, which pops up only once in a while on the bicycle screen, our accomplishments can be fleeting. It doesn't mean they didn't happen.
 
Don't get me wrong--I will still be climbing over the monkey wrenches to get to the bicycle, and to whatever else needs to be accomplished. But as I climb, I'll be trying to remember that the places where I stop to rest are important too.